Photo Flash: First Look At LIFE AFTER At The Old Globe

The Old Globe presents the U.S. premiere of Life After, a rapturously beautiful and stirring new musical withbook, music, and lyrics by Britta Johnson, directed by the Globe's own Barry Edelstein, opening Friday, March 29 at 8:00 p.m. Withchoreography by Ann Yee and music supervision, arrangements, and orchestrations by Lynne Shankel, Life After will run March 22 - April 28, 2019 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run March 22-28. Life After is produced by special arrangement with Yonge Street Theatricals, Linda Barnett, and Natalie Bartello. Single tickets start at $32.00 and are now on sale. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE, or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.

Grieving the recent loss of her famous father, 16-year-old Alice begins to question the events surrounding his death and sets out to uncover what really happened on the night that changed her family forever. Britta Johnson's Life After is a bittersweet, witty, and life-affirming new musical that explores the mess and beauty of loss and love. Through the vivid imagination of a young woman looking for the facts, we find a more complicated truth instead. The Old Globe's Barry Edelstein directs the U.S. premiere of this rapturously beautiful and stirring new musicalfrom a composer the Toronto Star calls "a startlingly talented emerging voice." BroadwayWorld dubs Life After "musical theatre perfection...exquisite from start to finish." Johnson and Life After received a total of six coveted Dora Mavor Moore Awards for the Toronto world premiere in September of 2017, including Outstanding New Musical and Outstanding Production in the 2017-2018 season.

The cast includes Bradley Dean (Broadway's Dear Evan Hansen, A Little Night Music, The Last Ship) as Frank Carter, Sophie Hearn (Nickel Mines, Facebook Me, Richard II) as Alice Carter, Charlotte Maltby (Starting Here, Starting Now; Have You Met Miss Jones) as Kate Carter,Livvy Marcus (Hair, Lizzie, The Theory of Relativity) as Hannah, Mamie Parris (Broadway's Cats, School of Rock - The Musical, Wicked) as Beth Carter, and Dan'yelle Williamson (Broadway's Memphis, Scandalous, Rocky) as Ms. Hopkins; Ximone Rose (Broadway's Once on This Island, Beautiful national tour), Mackenzie Warren (Broadway's Cats; Anything Goes, Pippin national tours), and Carmel Valley nativeCharlotte Mary Wen (the Globe's Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, One Day the Musical Off Broadway) as Furies; Lance Arthur Smith (the Globe's October Sky) as Frank Carter Understudy; and Encinitas native Emma Stratton (Broadway's Prince of Broadway; Bullets Over Broadway national tour) as Swing.

The multiple Tony Award-nominated creative team includes Ann Yee (Choreography; London's Caroline, or Change; Oklahoma! at Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Neil Patel (Scenic Design; Broadway's Time and the Conways; India Pale Ale, An Ordinary Muslim; The Lion national tour), Linda Cho (Costume Design; 15 Globe shows include A Thousand Splendid Suns, October Sky, The Comedy of Errors; Broadway'sAnastasia, Tony Award-winning A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder), Japhy Weideman (Lighting Design; the Globe's October Sky,Bright Star, Bethany, August: Osage County; Broadway's Lobby Hero, Dear Evan Hansen), Ken Travis (Sound Design; the Globe's American Mariachi, Rain, The Last Goodbye; Broadway's In Transit, Aladdin), internationally acclaimed Sven Ortel (Projection Design; Broadway's The Little Mermaid, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Wonderland), Lynne Shankel (Music Supervision, Arrangements, and Orchestrations; Cry-Baby, Altar Boyz), Chris Kong (Music Director), Tara Rubin Casting/Merri Sugarman, CSA (Casting), and Anjee Nero(Production Stage Manager).

"From the first instant I heard the score of Life After, I was swept away," said Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. "Britta Johnson is a major new talent in the contemporary musical theatre, and she's fashioned a story that is so many things: warm, humane, truthful, and about important things like family and loss and grief and healing. Its characters and their experiences are as moving and meaningful as its glorious, shimmering music. It gives me great joy to direct such a rich and winning work, and to work with a team of collaborators both onstage and off who are the absolute eminences in our field. And it is a distinct pleasure to bring Britta's unique and thrilling voice to the United States for the first time, and to the Globe's wonderful audience. This is a special show, and I cannot wait to share it with San Diego."

Photo Credit: Jeremy Daniel.