Casting Set for Roundabout's Off-B'way Musical The Tin Pan Alley Rag

Complete casting has been announced for Roundabout Theater Company’s New York premiere of the new Mark Saltzman musical The Tin Pan Alley Rag. The show, featuring music and lyrics by Irving Berlin and Scott Joplin and directed by Stafford Arima, begins previews at the Laura Pels Theatre on June 12, with opening set for July 14.

The Tin Pan Alley Rag will star Michael Therriault The Lord of the Rings, Fiddler on the Roof as Berlin and Michael Boatman Master Harold…And His Boys as Joplin. The pair head a cast of 12 that features Randy Aaron, Derrick Cobey, Jenny Fellner, Rosena M. Hill, James Judy, Mark Ledbetter, Michael McCormick, Erick Pinnick, Tia Speros and Idara Victor. Boatman returns to Roundabout after his role in 2003’s Master Harold…and the Boys, while Fellner appears after a recent turn in fall 2008’s Pal Joey on Broadway. McCormick is also a Roundabout alum, having appeared in the company’s Tony Award-winning revival of The Pajama Game.

The story of an imagined meeting between two of America’s greatest composers, Tin Pan Alley Rag follows Berlin and Joplin as their lives, loves and successes unfold and intersect onstage. Joplin was a musical prodigy, born the son of a slave, who received a conservatory education and slowly rose to acclaim. Berlin was a Russian Jewish immigrant who couldn't read music, yet catapulted to stardom at the age of 23. Both men changed the landscape of music forever with their contributions to the first American musical genre, ragtime. The show’s score features such classics as “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” “I Love a Piano,” “Play a Simple Melody,” “The Entertainer” and “Maple Leaf Rag,” among others.

The Tin Pan Alley Rag will feature choreography by Liza Gennaro and musical direction by Michael Patrick Walker. The design team includes Beowulf Boritt sets, Jess Goldstein costumes, Howell Binkley lights and Walter Trarbach sound.

The Tin Pan Alley Rag was most recently seen in January 2006 at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre in Jupiter, Florida. The Roundabout production, presented in association with Rodger Hess Productions, Inc., marks the first musical presented by the company in its off-Broadway venue, the Laura Pels Theatre.