National Pastime to run from 8 - 25 Aug 2012

A new musical comedy National Pastime will have its New York Premiere at Playwrights Horizons' Peter Jay Sharp Theater, were it shall run from 8 - 25 Aug 2012.

Featuring a Book by Tony Sportiello and music and lyrics by Al Tapper, National Pastime tells the story of WZBQ, a radio station in 1933 Iowa that is on the verge of bankruptcy. To spark ratings, the folks at the station invent a fictional, unbeatable baseball team and begin to broadcast phony baseball games as though real. All works to perfections... until the media begins to pay attention.

Directed by Nancy Robillard and choreographed by Chip Klose, the musical will star Gil Brady, Ethan Cadoff, L. R. Davidson, Leo Ash Evens, Mia Gentile, Abe Goldfarb, Janice Landry, Erica Lustig, Kelli Maguire, Dayla Perkins and Dan Van Why.

The creative team features set design by Robert Monaco, costume design by Cathy Small, lighting design by John Burkland and sound design by Wallace Flores.

National Pastime originated in a reading that took place at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York in May 2010. NThe musical had its world premiere production in 2011 at the Keegan Theater in Washington, D.C.

Tony Sportiello is a playwright and lifetime baseball fan, which grew up idolizing the Baltimore Orioles. In 1991 he wrote a one-act play entitled 'Contract Time,' which was presented at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.He was inspired to write a full length for the Hall of Fame, which became National Pastime.

Al Tapper composed the ballet 'The Seduction of Bathsheba,' whose premiere performance at Mechanics Hall was presented by the Central Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra 1988. Tapper's musicals include 'David,' 'ImPerfect Chemistry,' 'From Where I Stand,' 'Sessions' and 'An Evening at the Carlyle.'