Will Chase and Skylar Astin Set for Lab Mounting of The Burnt Part Boys

Will Chase The Story of My Life, Rent, High Fidelity and Skylar Astin Spring Awakening will appear in a developmental lab production of the new musical The Burnt Part Boys at the Vineyard Theater May 26-June 6, according to Variety. As previously announced, the show will have a summer mounting at New York Stage and Film at Vassar College after the lab production and will receive its official off-Broadway premiere in spring 2010 as a co-production of Playwrights Horizons and the Vineyard. Erica Schmidt is set to direct.

The Burnt Part Boys features a book by Mariana Elder, lyrics by Nathan Tysen and music by Chris Miller. Set in West Virginia in 1962, the musical follows a group of teenagers whose fathers were killed 10 years earlier in a tragic coal mining accident. When they learn that the mine will be reopened, they set out secretly in hopes of seeing the site and keeping it closed. Described as a moving and powerful coming-of-age tale, The Burnt Part Boys features a bluegrass and pop-inspired score by the composers of Fugitive Songs and The Mysteries of Harris Burdick.

No casting for the full production of musical, which will be presented at Playwrights Horizons, has been confirmed.