Every day is opening night.

Contact:

Rick Miramontez / Philip Carrubba / Matthew Troillett /Lily Robinson

rick@oandmco.com / philip@oandmco.com / matthew@oandmco.com / lily@oandmco.com

212-695-7400

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE

LANDMARK EVENT

BENEFITTING THE ACTORS FUND

CRAIG ZADAN AND NEIL MERON

PRESENT

A CONCERT PRESENTATION OF

“B O M B S H E L L”

THE MARILYN MONROE MUSICAL

FROM NBC’S “SMASH”

MUSIC BY MARC SHAIMAN

LYRICS BY MARC SHAIMAN AND SCOTT WITTMAN

CO-DIRECTED BY JOSHUA BERGASSE AND SCOTT WITTMAN

CHOREOGRAPHY BY JOSHUA BERGASSE

FEATURING

CHRISTIAN BORLE, WILL CHASE, MEGAN HILTY,

 KATHARINE MCPHEE AND DEBRA MESSING

ONE-NIGHT ONLY, MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2015

AT THE MINSKOFF THEATRE IN NEW YORK CITY

24-HOUR TICKETMASTER PRE-SALE FOR KICKSTARTER BACKERS ON APRIL 13, 2015

TICKETS ON SALE VIA TICKETMASTER ON APRIL 14, 2015

New York, NY (March 11, 2015) – It was announced today that producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron will present a concert presentation of the musical created within the NBC TV series “Smash,” Bombshell, with music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, co-directed by Joshua Bergasse and Scott Wittman with choreography by Joshua Bergasse.  The one-night only landmark event benefitting The Actors Fund is set for Monday evening, June 8, 2015 at The Minskoff Theatre (1515 Broadway). 

Bombshell was the Marilyn Monroe musical created in NBC’s Golden Globe-nominated television hit series “Smash.”  The one-night-only landmark event featuring Bombshell’s original songs will feature Christian Borle, Will Chase, Megan Hilty, Katharine McPhee and Debra Messing (all subject to availability). Completing the cast will be a starry collection of Broadway favorites.  Bombshell features the Emmy-nominated songs “Let Me Be Your Star,” and “Hang the Moon.” 

“The Actors Fund is an organization close to our hearts,” shared Craig Zadan and Neil Meron.  “We’re proud that this incredible cast can come together to support such a worthy cause and to share this exciting score live on Broadway for the first time.”

“We’re incredibly grateful to Craig and Neil and to everyone in this generous cast and creative team,” said Tony® Award-winner and Actors Fund Chairman Brian Stokes Mitchell. “Bombshell will be a one-of-a-kind benefit night thanks to them and will raise much-needed funds to help The Actors Fund continue their unique mission of helping everyone in need in our performing arts community across the country.”

The cast and creative team will be donating their time and talents for the entertainment charity but to help underwrite the considerable costs of the special benefit production and to assure that 100% of the proceeds will go to help people in performing arts and entertainment who are in need, crisis or transition, The Actors Fund is announcing a Bombshell Kickstarter campaign. 

Among the rewards for Kickstarter backers are Bombshell stickers, hats and posters, access to an advance Bombshell 24 hour pre-sale via Ticketmaster on April 13, and access to attend part of the Bombshell dress rehearsal on the day of the performance. For more information or to pledge to the Bombshell campaign, visit www.actorsfund.org/Bombshell.

Tickets ($100/$125/$200/$250/$500) will be on sale to the general public beginning April 14, 2015 via Ticketmaster. Tickets that include a post-performance cast party start at $1,000 and will be available through The Actors Fund beginning April 14, 2015. For Bombshell updates visit www.actorsfund.org/Bombshell.

JDS Development and Property Markets Group, the development team behind Stella Tower in Hell's Kitchen, are proud sponsors of the concert presentation of Bombshell benefitting The Actors Fund. For a full listing of Bombshell sponsorship packages, contact Jean Lee at The Actors Fund via email at jlee@actorsfund.org.

BIOS______________________________________________________________

Marc Shaiman (Music & Lyrics) has been writing music, lyrics, arrangements/orchestrations and very lengthy Emails since entering show business in 1976 at the age of 16. He has won a Tony (for co-writing the score to Hairspray with co-lyricist Scott Wittman), a Grammy (also for Hairspray), an Emmy (for his work on Billy Crystal’s Oscar appearances) and if he hadn’t lost each of his five Oscar nominations (for Sleepless In Seattle, Patch Adams, The First Wives Club, The American President and South Park-Bigger, Longer & Uncut), he could boast of being an EGOT. He has also been nominated for other Tonys, Emmys and Grammys, many in fact, but lost all of those also. Other film work includes Beaches, When Harry Met Sally, City Slickers, The Addams Family, A Few Good Men, Sister Act, Hocus Pocus, The Bucket List and Parental Guidance, to name a few. Millions of more titles are available upon request. Other theatrical ventures include Patti LuPone On Broadway, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, the Tony winning musical Catch Me If You Can, and the current record-breaking West End Olivier Award winning musical version of Charlie & The Chocolate Factory (coming soon to BroadWAY!). His television ventures are varied and many: “The Sweeney Sisters” on SNL, countless award shows with Mr. Crystal, Neil Patrick Harris, Jack Black and Will Ferrell, Jenifer Lewis’ “Jackie’s Back,” as well as “Smash”), but none will ever hold a candle to his collaboration with Bette Midler for Johnny Carson’s penultimate show. He has co-produced recordings for Miss Midler, Harry Connick Jr. and Mariah Carey, among many others. And he is quite fond of his online opus Prop 8-The Musical. He is overjoyed to report that two years ago he stopped reading online chat boards, and his life and well-being have improved drastically! He suggests you do the same.

Scott Wittman (Lyrics; Co-Director) co-wrote (with Marc Shaiman) the lyrics for the Olivier Award winning musical Hairspray, for which the pair received Tony and Grammy Awards. He also served as an executive producer on the hit film starring John Travolta.  Scott & Marc teamed up again on Broadway for Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, which he also directed, and Catch Me If You Can, which received a Tony nomination for Best Musical. For their original songs on NBC’s musical drama “Smash”, Scott & Marc were nominated for two Emmy Awards, a Grammy and a Golden Globe. On “Smash” they have composed songs for Jennifer Hudson, Uma Thurman, Bernadette Peters, and Liza Minnelli.  Their original score for the Marilyn Monroe musical “Bombshell” was released on Sony Records. Scott co-wrote the lyrics to Charlie and Chocolate Factory directed by Sam Mendes, which is breaking box office records at The Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London’s West End. For Patti LuPone, Scott has created and directed two Broadway shows, three recordings and four sold-out Carnegie Hall concerts. Together with Christine Ebersole, he co-created a string of critically lauded evenings at The Carlyle Hotel and across the country. Downtown at La Mama, Scott conceived and directed “Jukebox Jackie” starring Justin Vivian Bond, Cole Escola, Steel Burkhardt and Bridget Everett. At the Public Theatre’s Joe’s Pub he directed and co-wrote “Rock Bottom” also starring Bridget Everett.

Joshua Bergasse (Choreographer; Co-Director) won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography for NBC’s “Smash.”   Broadway: On the Town, Gigi (opening this spring!) City Center Encores!:  Little Me, It’s A Bird…It’s A Plane… It’s Superman!  Carnegie Hall:  Guys and Dolls, The Sound of Music. Off-Broadway: Bomb-Itty of Errors, Captain Louie. Tour:  Fame The Musical. Regional: Gigi (Kennedy Center), Bull Durham (Alliance Theatre), Nerds (Philadelphia Theatre Company, Barrymore Nomination), Secondhand Lions (Fifth Avenue Theatre), West Side Story (Stratford Festival), On the Town, Guys and Dolls, Carousel, The World Goes Round Barrington Stage Company. Also for television, Bergasse choreographed for FOX’s “So You Think You Can Dance.”

Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (Producers) productions have earned a total of six Academy Awards, five Golden Globes, 13 Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards, a Grammy Award, five GLAAD Awards, two NAACP Image Awards, and two Tony Awards with their feature films, television and theater projects. After successfully producing the 85th Academy Awards, hosted by Seth MacFarlane, they were invited back to produce the 86th Academy Awards, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, and the 87th Academy Awards, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris. Other projects include 2013’s hugely successful, live, three-hour NBC presentation of “The Sound of Music Live!” starring Carrie Underwood as Maria.  In 2014, they returned to executive produce NBC's “Peter Pan Live!” starring Allison Williams and Christopher Walken. Zadan and Meron also produced a four-hour miniseries telling the true story of “Bonnie & Clyde,” starring Emile Hirsch.  Their television projects, which have accrued 103 Emmy nominations, include: “Gypsy,” “Cinderella,” “Annie,” “The Music Man,” “Life With Judy Garland,” “Martin & Lewis,” “Serving In Silence,” “The Beach Boys,” “Brian’s Song,” “The Three Stooges,” “The Reagans,” “A Raisin In The Sun,” the Golden Globe-nominated TV series “Smash,” the hit series “Drop Dead Diva,” and the critically acclaimed contemporary version of “Steel Magnolias” starring Queen Latifah. On Broadway, they produced the Tony-winning How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying starring Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette, and the Tony-winning Promises, Promises starring Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth. Zadan and Meron’s motion pictures include: Hairspray, The Bucket List, Footloose, and the Oscar-winning Best Picture, Chicago.  One of their upcoming projects for the big screen is producing Pippin for The Weinstein Company.

The Actors Fund is a national human services organization that helps everyone—performers and those behind the scenes—who works in performing arts and entertainment, helping more than 21,000 people directly each year, and hundreds of thousands online. Serving professionals in film, theatre, television, music, opera, radio and dance, The Fund’s programs include social services and emergency financial assistance, health care and insurance counseling, housing, and employment and training services. With offices in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, The Actors Fund has been—for 133 years—a safety net for those in need, crisis or transition. Visit www.actorsfund.org.

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