Krystina Alabado & More Set for World Premiere of Mystic Pizza Musical

Casting is set for the previously announced stage adaptation of the 1988 movie Mystic Pizza, which is scheduled to premiere at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine from September 1 through October 2. Sandy Rustin adapted Amy Holden Jones' original screenplay for the stage. The production will be directed by Casey Hushion and feature arrangements and orchestrations by Carmel Dean.

Mystic Pizza will star Krystina Alabado as Daisy, Kyra Kennedy as Kat and Gianna Yanelli as Jojo, the roles playes in the film by Julia Roberts, Annabeth Gish and Lili Taylor, respectively. The cast will feature Rayanne Gonzales as Leona, Joél Pérez as Tim, Garrett Marshall as Bill and Corey Mach as Charles. The company will also include Becca Petersen, Isabella De Souza Moore, Nicole Paloma Sarro, Jesse Swimm, Jake Swain, Graham Stevens and Forest VanDyke as well as swings Elaine Cotter and Joshua Bess.

Alabado was last seen on Broadway in Mean Girls. Her other Broadway credits include American Psycho and American Idiot. Kennedy appeared in the first national tour of Sara Bareilles' Waitress. Yanelli appeared on Broadway in Mean Girls.

Mystic Pizza follows the coming of age of three young women working as waitresses at a local pizza parlor in Mystic, Connecticut. Struggling within a local class structure that segregates the immigrant working class from the country club set, the women strive to define themselves beyond the shadow of their families and the men who pursue them. 

The score will include hit songs from the late 1980s and early 1990s from artists such as John Mellencamp, Debbie Gibson, Robert Palmer, Berlin, Van Morrison, The Supremes/Phil Collins, Kim Wilde, Mike and the Mechanics, Fine Young Cannibals, Tiffany, Bryan Adams and Starship.

The original announcement for Mystic Pizza featured a different creative team, including composer Melissa Etheridge, director Gordon Greenberg and writer Sas Goldberg.