The Shaggs: initial casting and dates for new musical

Playwrights Horizons and New York Theatre Workshop's co-production of The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World, a new musical with book by Joy Gregory, music by Gunnar Madsen, with lyrics by both, and story by Gregory, Madsen and John Langs, will play at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage from 12 May - 3 Jul 2011. Opening date to be announced.

The musical will star Tony Award nominee Peter Friedman (Ragtime) and Kevin Cahoon, with further casting to be announced.

Taking place between 1969 and 1973, The Shaggs is an earnest look at one of the oddest and most unlikely bands to achieve rock cult status. Forced by a demanding father, the three very awkward sisters of the Wiggin family of Fremont, New Hampshire were prepped to play in a band based on a prophecy laid out by their grandmother. Taken out of school and away from all outside influences, the Wiggin family patriarch pushed the girls to practice non-stop until he thought they were ready to record an album and perform concerts. They were not. They never were, but they did, and this wholly original musical chronicles their journey while incorporating songs influenced by The Shaggs' canon, as well as a re-imagining of their 'hit single' Philosophy of the World.

Austin Wiggin, the girls' father, died before he ever saw his dream realized. Following his death, The Shaggs were no more until the mid-seventies when a Boston radio station played a few cuts from their record. Their only album caught on, spurred by Frank Zappa declaring the band "better than the Beatles", celebrated by outsider-music mavens who were taken with The Shaggs' artless style. In 1980 they were Rolling Stones' Comeback Artists of the Year without having recorded anything in over a decade. Old recordings and footage have been turned into subsequent albums and collector's items for their thousands of underground fans, but they remain humble loners in the outskirts of New England.

With The Shaggs, Playwrights Horizons and New York Theatre Workshop continue their commitment to developing new musicals.

At Playwrights Horizons, these include 'Grey Gardens,' James Joyce's 'The Dead,' 'Floyd Collins,' 'Assassins,' 'Once on This Island' and 'Sunday in the Park with George,' and at New York Theatre Workshop these include 'Rent,' 'The Seven,' B'right Lights, Big City,' and 'Songs From an Unmade Bed.'

The Shaggs will mark the first time the two award-winning theaters have co-produced together.

The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World was presented as part of the Second New York Musical Theatre Festival, where it played at Theatre Row 's Beckett Theatre from the 27 Sep - 2 Oct 2005. That production was directed by John Lang and starred Peter Friedman.

Biographies:

Peter Friedman - Broadway: 'Twelve Angry Men,' 'Ragtime' (Tony nomination), 'The Tenth Man,' 'The Heidi Chronicles,' 'Execution of Justice,' 'Piaf,' 'The Rules of the Game,' 'Love for Love,' 'Holiday,' 'Chemin de Fer,' 'The Visit,' 'Don Juan' and 'The Great God Brown.' Off-Broadway credits include: 'After the Revolution,' 'Circle Mirror Transformation,' 'The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island,' 'My Old Lady' and 'The Loman Family Picnic.'

Kevin Cahoon - Broadway: 'The Who's Tommy,' 'The Lion King,' 'The Rocky Horror Show,' 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,' and 'The Wedding Singer.' Off-Broadway: 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch,' 'The Wild Party' and 'The Foreigner,' for which he was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award.

Joy Gregory (Writer/Lyricist) is a founding member of Chicago's Lookingglass Theater Company where her two most recently produced works were The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World, and 'Race: How Blacks and Whites Think & Feel About the American Obsession,' a co-adaptation with David Schwimmer of the book by Studs Terkel.

Gunnar Madsen (Composer/Lyricist) was a founder, songwriter and performer with the internationally acapella group The Bobs. Their first album led to a Grammy nomination. The Bobs have released five more albums and Gunnar has received seven consecutive ASCAP songwriter's awards. He has written music for the feature films "Breaking the Rules" and "A Special Providence," he was the voice of Sammy Davis, Jr. in the Emmy-Award winning HBO film "The Rat Pack."

John Langs (Director) received a Backstage West award for The Shaggs. The show then moved to The Lookingglass Theater of Chicago where it was Jeff-nominated. He is Director and Artistic Associate with The Seattle Shakespeare Company, The Powerhouse Theatre of Santa Monica, The Neurotic Young Urbanites in Los Angeles and Maui Onstage in Hawaii.