Leslie Kritzer and Doug Kreeger will star in the off-Broadway production of Rooms, a new musical with the subtitle “a rock romance.” The show will begin performances on February 27 at New World Stages, with opening night set for March 16, directed by Scott Schwartz.
Rooms features music and lyrics by Paul Scott Goodman Bright Lights Big City and a book by Goodman and Miriam Gordon. Set in 1970s Glasgow, the show centers on Monica Kritzer, an ambitious singer/songwriter, who meets Ian Kreeger, a reclusive rocker. The two quickly become entangled creatively and romantically. Their music takes them first to London and ultimately to New York City, where they discover the vibrant new music scene and create an intimate partnership, their love deepening while their personalities drive them apart. A five-piece rock band accompanies these two characters as they search for the balance between ambition and happiness.
Kritzer most recently starred in the Broadway productions of A Catered Affair and Legally Blonde and in the Encores! production of On the Town. She appeared on Broadway in Hairspray and off-Broadway in The Great American Trailer Park Musical, Bat Boy and Godspell. Kritzer was in the world premiere cast of Vanities, the national tour of Urinetown and the Paper Mill production of Funny Girl.She received critical acclaim for her Joe’s Pub run in “Leslie Kritzer Is Patti LuPone At Les Mouches,” a performance she repeated at the Plush Room in San Francisco.
Kreeger starred in the world premiere of Rooms last August a co-production between MetroStage in Alexandria, VA and Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, NY and appeared as Chita Rivera’s boy-toy in Signature Theatre of Virginia’s production of The Visit. He was an understudy in the Broadway revival of Les Miserables, starred off-Broadway in Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story and toured internationally as Danny Zuko in Grease and Berger in Hair.
Rooms will have choreography by Matt Williams, scenic design by Adam Koch, costume design by Alejo Vietti, lighting design by Herrick Goldman, sound design by Jonathan Weston and musical supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by Jesse Vargas.
Before its world premiere production which featured Natascia Diaz in the role to be played off-Broadway by Kritzer, Rooms was showcased as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival NYMF in 2005. The off-Broadway mounting is being produced by Van Hill Productions, co-founded by Van Dean and Hillary Cutter.