Miscast Gala Adds Host Aasif Mandvi and Performers Ben Platt & Leslie Odom Jr. To All-star Line Up
MCC Theater Contact:
Rick Miramontez / Scott Braun / Michael Jorgensen
rick@oandmco.com / scott@oandmco.com / michael@oandmco.com
212-695-7400
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE
STAR OF STAGE AND SCREEN &
“DAILY SHOW” REGULAR
A A S I F M A N D V I
TO HOST
MCC THEATER’S ANNUAL GALA
“ M I S C A S T 2 0 1 5 ”
“PITCH PERFECT” ACTOR
B E N P L A T T
AND “HAMILTON” STAR
LESLIE ODOM JR.
JOIN ALL-STAR LINEUP
OF PERFORMERS
MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2015
AT HAMMERSTEIN BALLROOM
**SHOW-ONLY TICKETS ON SALE NOW**
New York, NY – MCC THEATER (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey and William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) is pleased to announce that actor and “Daily Show” regular Aasif Mandvi will serve as emcee for this year’s Miscast 2015 Gala, to be held Monday, March 30, 2015 at The Hammerstein Ballroom at the Manhattan Center (311 West 34th Street). In addition, two performers have been added to the lineup: Ben Platt of “Pitch Perfect” and recently of Broadway’s The Book of Mormon; and Leslie Odom Jr. of NBC’s “Smash” and currently starring in The Public’s smash hit Hamilton as Aaron Burr.
Platt and Odom Jr. join the previously-announced all-star lineup of performers including: Uzo Aduba, winner of both the Emmy® and SAG® Awards for her work on “Orange is the New Black”; Tony® Award winners Laura Benanti, Linda Lavin and Jessie Mueller; Tony® Award nominees Annaleigh Ashford, Christopher Fitzgerald, Joshua Henry, Jeremy Jordan and Ramin Karimloo; and stage and screen star Ana Gasteyer.
As previously announced, this year’s Miscast gala, an annual highlight of the New York theater season, will honor two bold and fearless women: Emmy® & Golden Globe® nominated stage and screen actress Sarah Paulson and Tony® Award-winning producer Fran Weissler.
The Honorary Co-Chairs of this year’s gala are James Earl Jones and wife Cecilia, Jessica Lange, Christopher Plummer and wife Elaine, and Harvey Weinstein.
Show-only mezzanine level tickets are now on sale and begin at $79 with $99 Show-only Premium Seats at http://www.mcctheater.org/galamiscast.html.
Gala tickets and tables are on sale at www.mcctheater.org/galamiscast_tickets.html. For gala tickets or tables call Alyssa Simmons at (212) 727-7722, ext. 232 or via email at asimmons@mcctheater.org.
“The year’s funniest revue!” – The Huffington Post
“One of The Year’s Most Galvanizing Theater Moments!” – The New York Times
Link to video from last year’s Montage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlctX-g3X4E&list=PL09zD5L4yB7KrPNEpJlfFALUVxzs_SaBS
MCC Theater's annual Miscast gala is one of the most exciting and unique theater events in town. Broadway’s hottest stars perform songs from roles in which they would never be cast. Proceeds from Miscast 2015 will, as always, support MCC Theater’s mission to develop and produce exciting work Off-Broadway, as well as its Youth Company and partnerships with New York City public high schools, and MCC’s literary development work with emerging playwrights.
The schedule for the evening is as follows:
6:30 p.m. Cocktails
7:30 p.m. Dinner and Honoree Celebration
8:45 p.m. Miscast 2015 Revue
Last year, Miscast 2014 honored multi-Emmy® Award winner Allison Janney.
Performers from past years include: Norbert Leo Butz, Megan Hilty, Raúl Esparza, Kelli O'Hara, Brian D'Arcy James, Steven Pasquale, Jeremy Jordan, Jesse L. Martin, Zosia Mamet and many others. Special guests have included Helen Mirren, Julianna Margulies, Andy Cohen, Charles Busch, Lewis Black, Chris Noth, Edward Albee, Kathleen Turner, Mo Rocca, Isaac Mizrahi, and many more.
Now playing at MCC: the New York premiere of Jennifer Haley’s award-winning play The Nether, directed by Anne Kaufman and set for February 4 – March 15, 2015, starring “Nurse Jackie” Emmy® Award winner Merritt Wever, Tony® Award winner Frank Wood, Tony® nominee Peter Friedman, Ben Rosenfield of “Boardwalk Empire” and A Most Violent Year, and rising talent Sophia Anne Caruso. The 2014-15 Season will end with the world premiere of Robert Askins’ Permission, set for April 29 – June 7, 2015 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. As previously announced, Alex Timbers will direct. Permission marks the return of playwright Robert Askins to MCC Theater, where last season he debuted his critically-acclaimed Hand to God—a play which will open on Broadway in Spring 2015 with its MCC Theater cast and creative team reprising their work.
MCC Theater – founded in 1986 as Manhattan Class Company – is driven by a mission to provoke conversations that have never happened and otherwise never would. Led by Artistic Directors Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, and Executive Director Blake West, MCC fulfills its mission by producing new work that challenges artists and rewards audiences, and by nurturing the development of playwrights and students through a variety of literary and education programs that enable nearly 1,200 New York City high school students to find – and use – their own unique voice each year through the creation and performance of original theater pieces. MCC currently produces its annual season at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street) and will open its own two-theater complex on West 52nd Street and 10th Avenue in 2017. Notable productions include the recent hits Hand to God and Small Engine Repair; The Village Bike; The Other Place; Really Really; The Submission, winner of the inaugural Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award for new American plays; The Pride; Fifty Words; Nixon's Nixon; The Grey Zone; the Tony Award-winning Frozen; the Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit; the re-imagined production of the musical Carrie; and eight plays by Playwright-in-Residence Neil LaBute, including Fat Pig, Reasons to Be Pretty and Reasons to Be Happy.
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AASIF MANDVI – Bio
Aasif Mandvi is well known for his work as a correspondent on Comedy Central’s Emmy-winning show, “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” Notable television work includes “Us & Them,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Sex and the City,” “Sleeper Cell,” “The Sopranos,” “The Bedford Diaries,” “Oz,” “CSI,” “Law & Order,” and “Tanner on Tanner” directed by Robert Altman. Recurring roles include “Jericho” and “ER.” Currently, Aasif is writing, producing, and starring in HBO’s upcoming series, “The Brink,” co-starring Jack Black and Tim Robbins.
November marked the release of his memoir, No Man’s Land, a collection of humorous and personal stories published by Chronicle Books.
Aasif is also a critically acclaimed stage actor who received rave reviews for creating the role of ‘Amir Kapoor’ in the world premiere of Ayad Akhtar’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Disgraced, at Lincoln Center. He was the recipient of the 1999 OBIE award for Sakina’s Restaurant, a critically acclaimed play he wrote and starred in. Other stage credits include the Broadway revival of Oklahoma and Suburbia.
In film, Aasif’s recent work includes, Million Dollar Arm with Jon Hamm, The Internship, starring alongside Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, Movie 43, The Dictator with Sacha Baron Cohen, Dark Horse for Todd Solondz, Ruby Sparks, (from the creators of Little Miss Sunshinse), Gods Behaving Badly, and Premium Rush. He also co-wrote and starred in Today’s Special, which premiered at the London Film Festival. Additional film credits include leads in The Last Airbender and The Mystic Masseur, and supporting roles in It’s Kind of a Funny Story, The Proposal, Ghost Town, Music and Lyrics, Spider-Man 2, Freedomland, Analyze This, Margin Call and The Siege.
BEN PLATT – Bio
Ben Platt is best known for starring as Benji Applebaum in Universal Pictures' smash hit Pitch Perfect and will reprise his role in Pitch Perfect 2 in May. This summer, Ben can be seen alongside Meryl Streep in the film Ricki and The Flash.
Platt most recently made his Broadway debut as Elder Cunningham in Broadway’s famed production of Book of Mormon, in which the New York Times called his performance “sensational.” He first originated the role of Elder Cunningham to critical acclaim in the show's Chicago production for which he won a Broadway World Chicago Award- Best Actor in a Touring Production. This past fall, Platt sold out his first solo cabaret show at the popular New York City venue, 54 Below.
No stranger to theater, Ben recently starred in the reading of Breaking Bobby Stone directed by Peter Scolari. He has also starred in the following shows. National Tours: Caroline, or Change (directed by George C. Wolfe and Tony Kushner). Regional Credits: The Black Suits (Barrington Stage Company), The Power of Duff (New York Stage and Film, Stephen Belber), Dead End (directed by Nicholas Martin, Ahmanson Theatre), The Music Man, Mame, Camelot, and The Sound of Music (Hollywood Bowl, directed by Gordon Hunt). Workshops/Readings: Murder at the Gates (directed by Peter Dubois, Steven Sater), Alice By Heart (Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik), Irma La Douce (directed by Rob Ashford, starring Katie Holmes), Bridges of Madison County (directed by Bartlett Sher, Jason Robert Brown).
Ben currently resides in New York City and Los Angeles.
LESLIE ODOM JR. – Bio
Triple threat LESLIE ODOM JR is currently playing the leading role of ‘Aaron Burr’ in Hamilton at the Public Theater, the highly-anticipated new musical by LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA and directed by TOMMY KAIL— the creative team behind the five-time Tony Award winning musical In the Heights. The show premiered in mid-November and extended twice before it opened due to popular demand. The New York Times calls it “a show that aims impossibly high and hits its target.”
LESLIE is well known for his series regular role as the charming and caring “Sam Strickland” on NBC’s SMASH. He’s also had a strong array of TV of other recurring roles on comedies and dramas alike. An extraordinary stage performer, his past work in the theatre includes “Tick, Tick… Boom!” as part of the popular Encores! Series at City Center and the Broadway musical “Leap of Faith,” for which he won the prestigious Astaire Award for recognition of his “outstanding achievement in dance on Broadway.” He also received a Drama League Award Distinguished Performance nomination for “Leap of Faith.”
Leslie’s film credits include a leading role in “Red Tails,” the 2012 George Lucas-produced feature about the famed Tuskegee Airmen of World War II.