ROBIN'S SHOW REVIEW: TOMORROW MORNING - Discount Offer

Making its NYC debut at the York Theatre Company, this new Off-Broadway musical follows a couple as they face the uncertainty of what tomorrow morning holds on the eve of two life changing events.

A young, giddily smitten couple is looking forward to spending the rest of their lives together as they prepare for their wedding with excitement and lust, while, ten years later, their older selves are drafting divorce papers and looking back on a marriage gone wrong.

TOMORROW MORNING is both a humorous and moving story of the complexity of contemporary relationships and speaks to anyone who has felt the joy and pain of love.  Nothing comes with a guarantee, even if you enter into a relationship with the best of intentions and a full heart, and that is evidenced here.

The show received previous productions in both London and Chicago and, in 2009, won Chicago's Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Musical.  It is performed without intermission for 75 minutes.

The cast of four features D.B. Bonds, Autumn Hurlbert, Matthew Hydzik and Mary Mossberg.  A standout  was Mossberg as Catherine.  Her performance was both strong and moving.  And, Bonds as John nearly brought me to tears when he sang a particularly poignant duet (with Hydzik) entitled Look What We Made, about his nine year old son Jack.  The mom in me could fully relate to this father's love as he shared wonderment and joy, tinged with underlying sadness, knowing that they would no longer be parenting under the same roof....yet they were responsible for bringing this promising, innocent boy into the world.

The show had a welcome light-hearted moment with The Game Show song, and it was clever at the end when Jack's vows were shared in writing with the audience.

Compared to the flash and glamour of so many Broadway musicals these days, TOMORROW MORNING makes it's heartfelt point with a more-subdued, yet well-staged production, and there is soemthing to be said for that.

LAURENCE MARK WYTHE (Book, Music and Lyrics) is one of the UK's leading emerging creators of new musical theatre. Tomorrow Morning was first produced in London in 2006, and then in Chicago in 2008 where it won the Jeff Award for Best Midsize Musical. This was followed by a production in Melbourne and a further production in the UK in 2010 starring Julie Atherton and Jon Lee. His musical Through the Door (book by Judy Freed) was seen in the West End in 2009, also starring Julie Atherton. His other work includes the festive family musical The Lost Chrismas which was recently produced in the UK, and he is currently writing Girlfriends for Korean producers OD Musical. He composed the score for Joe DiPietro's play F---ing Men in Chicago (directed by Tom Mullen), and recently wrote the theme for a new TV project with a BAFTA award winning production company. He lives in London with his wife and two daughters. www.laurencemarkwythe.com

TOM MULLEN (Director) Recently directed Joe DiPietro's F---ing Men, Stages 773, US Premiere; Departure Lounge, Royal George Theatre; Tomorrow Morning, Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theater, (Joseph Jefferson Award Winner - Best Musical Midsize); Love/Perfect Now Change, Noble Fool Theatricals; JOE, Chicago Dramatist; Urinetown, Mercury Theatre, seven Jeff nominations including Best Director and Best Musical. World premiere, What a Glorious Feeling, NYMF Festival; Full Gallop, with Emmy winner Jill Larson; the world premiere of Wicked City; Associate Director of Broadway revival, Company (Roundabout Theatre) and The Rhythm Club (Signature Theatre, Washington D.C.); National tour: The World Goes 'Round for Columbia Artists; adapted Augusten Burroughs novel Sellevision, Ohio Theatre, NYC; Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus; Second City Comedy Theatre. Concerts: Oleta Adams, Sutton Foster and Bea Arthur. Regional credits include: Forever Plaid, A Chorus Line, Betty's Summer Vacation, Nine, Closer than Ever and The 1940's Radio Hour.


DISCOUNT TICKET OFFER:
The York Theatre Company ∙ 619 Lexington Avenue (Corner of 54th St.) ∙ New York, NY 10022
http://www.yorktheatre.org/
Use codeTCMORN45 for $45 tickets!
Box Office: (212) 935-5820 ∙ Box Office Hours: Monday-Friday 12-6pm


*Offer expires 4/23/11. Valid for all performances through 4/23/11. Blackout dates may apply. Offer subject to availability and prior sale. All sales are final; no refunds or exchanges. Schedule and casting subject to change. Offer may be modified or revoked at any time.

GUEST BLOG POST: Leap Into Something New by Karyn Scott

What happens when a stay-at-home mom with two young children discovers a struggling rock singer at a party and thinks, “What if I could turn him into the next big American rock star?” Sounds like a crazy idea, and it was, but this is what happened when I heard a band named Alpha Rev play at a backyard party four years ago.

As an overwhelmed mom with two pre-schoolers in tow, I had no clue about the music business. I was a 39-year-old former attorney who had never played an instrument or seen a mixing board—and yet managing this band felt like what I was meant to do. At the time in 2006, Alpha Rev was only one of thousands of talented bands that called Austin home. The band’s lead singer and writer, Casey McPherson, was mostly living out of his beat-up car and I had no idea how to download songs to an iPod (we were an unlikely pair to say the least). I should point out that managing a rock band was nowhere near my comfort zone. In fact, most of my friends would point out that I’m the kind of person that considers making lasagna without burning it quite daring.

As I contemplated helping the band, I wondered if it was possible to become more daring after having children, instead of less? Still, it is one thing to go back to a responsible career, but quite another to find your passion in life. What was it about finding a struggling wanna-be rock star that made me want to find mine?

Casey McPherson was scruffy from top to bottom and didn’t exactly drip with star quality when he walked into a room, but when I heard him sing, I knew he had a special gift. Some crazy inner voice told me, “the world should hear him … and you should help.” That voice got louder when I learned from a band member that Casey’s father and brother had both committed suicide. Music was his way of coping, he explained. As it was mine… throughout my life, music had provided the constant soundtrack to all my joys and sadness. Even though I had no experience in the business, I had always been passionate about great music. I soon learned that in the Internet age, passion sometimes goes further than experience.

A few months later, I would become his manager and would start my own record label, Flyer Records (a name I coined with the idea that I would “throw it out there and see if it flies”). I never imagined how monumental this task would be, as I travelled with the band throughout the United States hoping to get them discovered—and find a reliable babysitter. Looking back, I was, a middle-aged mom with a temperamental computer and two rowdy kids hanging off my legs as I tried to make “office space” seem official in the laundry room. Yet, despite all odds, I succeeded: after flying across the country in 2007 for a New York City showcase that was the almost-magical musical culmination of our efforts, Alpha Rev got offered a deal with Disney juggernaut Hollywood Records. It was everything we dreamed of… but I soon began to question whether I had really been chasing Casey’s dreams, instead of my own.

This realization led me to start Kids in a New Groove (K.I.N.G.), a nonprofit mentoring organization that provides free private music lessons for kids in foster care. As Alpha Rev scored a top 10 hit video on the nationally televised VH1 countdown in June, 2010, and their catchy song “New Morning” became one of the most popular rock songs in America, my heart pulled me toward these kids who saw music lessons as their only hope. By the end of 2010, I had doubled the size of our program, and was amazed at the healing benefits music was bringing to children who are frequently shut out from the arts. I thought having a hand in a hit song would be exciting, but it paled in comparison to seeing the joy music can bring to foster kids.

Starting a new business helped me discover the power of an everyday mom to make a difference in the world by seizing a dream, no matter how crazy. While moms might be more conservative in their decision-making, we have to remember that motherhood is a leap of faith too; when I hug my kids at the end of each day, I know that journey was worth it. Finding your passion isn’t that different—sometimes you have to close your eyes and jump to find the right opportunity. Just as with having kids, you can’t plot out every hard day, every blind curve in the road. In retrospect, if I hadn’t decided to manage Alpha Rev, I wouldn’t be changing the lives of American foster kids.

It’s a New Year . . . what’s your leap?

To find out more about Kids in a New Groove, please visit http://www.kidsinanewgroove.org/.  You can see Alpha Rev as a special guest on tour in 2011 with Bon Jovi; Alpha Rev's new record "New Morning" is available on itunes.