Tony Award Winner "Company" Is Coming

Hold on to your hats! Stephen Sondheim’s landmark musical "Company", winner of three Tony Awards, is coming to the
Manhattan Arts Center April 28-30 and May 4-7.

The musical, directed by Fran Albright with musical direction by Charles Faulk, features a truly stellar cast of community
members and students. "Company" is a funny and thoughtful look at New York marriages in the 1970s.

Five married couples are examined and observed through the eyes of perennial bachelor, Robert, who can’t make up his
mind about his own commitments to the women in his life. This was Sondheim’s ‘coming of age’ musical. Here we have a
mature and profoundly observant composer commenting on the human condition, his feelings mixed, his sense of irony
heightened by the complexities of the fickle human beings in his story. If you thought you had all the answers, wait until you
hear what these couples have to say.

The 1970 musical was hailed as ‘original and uncompromising’ by the New York critics. Manhattan’s "Company" is played
on a multi-level stage, with people bobbing in and out of the various ‘apartments’ represented on the set. Even the pit band
will have an apartment of its own.

Fran Albright and Charles Faulk have assembled a magnificent cast for this production of "Company", with a good
combination of new faces and singers MAC theatre-goers will recognize: Travis McDiffett ("Little Shop of Horrors"), Valerie
Dykes ("Broadway Bound"), Bob Garrett, Anna Bolz, Michael Parker, Ginny Wason, Scott Schlender, Sarah Kuhns
("They’re Playing Our Song"), Travis Murray, Cindy Wichman ("All In The Timing"), John Rapin ("Bedroom Farce"), Cindy
Ellis, and Malissa DeWald. The capable helpers backstage include Cherie Geiser (producer), Frank Dolan (set/lights/sound),
Ryan MyCoy (stage manager), Elizabeth Moran (choreographer), Tammi Hawk (costume coordinator), Janice Albright
(hair) and Jan Garton & Donna Lee (props).

"Company" will be presented at the Arts Center on April 28-30 and May 4-7 (Note: some adult content). Performances
start at 8 p.m., except Sunday matinees, which start at 2 p.m. Tickets$11 (adults), $8.50 (students) and $5 (children)can be
obtained from April 17 on by calling 539-6000 (10 am-5 pm), e-mailing boxoffice@ManhattanArts.org, or by stopping by
the Center or Streetside in Aggieville. Student walk-ins on Thursday and Sunday are $5.

There will be an afterglow reception at which audience members can meet the cast and crew after the opening night
performance on April 28.