Thursday, July 26, 2012

THE PASADENA PLAYHOUSE IN ASSOCIATION WITH DAVID SHOR ANNOUNCES BEN TOTH AND SAM FOREMAN AS COMPOSER AND LYRICIST FOR THE WORLD PREMIERE OF SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE – THE MUSICAL


AT THE PASADENA PLAYHOUSE
PERFORMING JUNE – JULY, 2013
AND FEATURING
BOOK BY FILM’S ORIGINAL SCREENWRITER JEFF ARCH
AND DIRECTED BY LONNY PRICE


PASADENA, CA (July 26, 2011) – The Pasadena Playhouse (Sheldon Epps, Artistic 
Director and Charles Dillingham, Interim Executive Director), in association 
with David Shor, announced today that Ben Toth and Sam Foreman have been named 
the new composer and lyricist of SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE – THE MUSICAL. They join 
the previously announced Lonny Price as director, Jeff Arch as book writer, and 
Eric Stern as musical director.  The world premiere of SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE – 
THE MUSICAL is set to close the 2012 - 2013 season with performances beginning 
in June at The Pasadena Playhouse (39 S. El Molino).

“We are proud to have Ben and Sam, two strong artists with solid pasts, strong 
presents and amazing futures, join the Sleepless creative team, “ said director 
Lonny Price. “We are thick into creating the new musical. The plan is to hold a 
reading this fall, make changes then do another reading during the winter and 
incorporate additional changes prior to beginning rehearsals in May.”

Ben Toth has served as a musical director/vocal coach/producer for some of the 
most popular actor/singers currently working on the stage, including “Glee’s” 
Lea Michele and Idina Menzel, Beau Bridges, “Mad Men’s” Christina Hendricks, 
Taye Diggs and Mandy Patinkin, with whom he performed to critical acclaim at the 
Duke of York’s Theatre in London’s West End. Ben just completed the score for 
Liberal Arts, a feature film starring Zac Efron, Allison Janney and Josh Radnor, 
opening in the US and UK in late 2012.

Sam Foreman is the lyricist and co-book author for the musical I Sing! which has 
been produced commercially Off-Broadway and in theatres around the world. A 
writer for the stage, screen, and television, Sam co-created (with Beau 
Willimon) the Civil War era television pilot “Hickory Hill” for AMC.

SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE – THE MUSICAL has a book by Jeff Arch, Shor’s longtime 
business partner, who penned the film’s original story and co-wrote the 
screenplay, sharing 1994 Oscar, BAFTA and WGA nominations with Nora Ephron and 
David Ward. 

SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE – THE MUSICAL centers around Sam, a widower and single 
father. When Sam's son, Jonah calls into a talk radio program looking for a new 
mother, Sam ends up getting on the phone and laments about his lost love. 
Thousands of miles away in Baltimore, Annie hears the program and immediately 
falls in love with Sam, despite the fact that she has never met him and that she 
is engaged to another man. Believing they are meant to be together, Annie sets 
out for Seattle to meet Sam, who, meanwhile, contends with an onslaught of 
letters from available women equally touched by his phone call.

The American Film Institute (AFI) lists SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE among the Top 10 
Best Romantic Comedies of all time and the film grossed over $227 million 
dollars worldwide. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, two BAFTA 
Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, four MTV Movie Awards, one Writers Guild of 
America Award, and won an American Comedy Award and a Casting Society of America 
Award. SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE is based on the 1957 film An Affair to Remember 
starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr.

Tickets are currently available by subscription only.  Single ticket on sale 
date and prices, full casting and creative team will be announced at a later 
date.

The Pasadena Playhouse is located at 39 South El Molino Avenue in Pasadena.  
Subscriptions are available for purchase at www.PasadenaPlayhouse.org, by 
calling the Box Office at 626-356-7529 or by visiting The Pasadena Playhouse Box 
Office.  The Box Office is open Tuesday – Sunday from 12:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. 
during non-performance dates; Monday from 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. and Tuesday – 
Sunday from 12:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. on performance dates.  Group subscriptions 
are also available. 

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