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		NEWS & EVENTS

January 9, 2005

MusicalFare Theatre Launching Yearlong Campaign

to Fund Increased Focus on Original Productions

M&T Bank Providing 50 Percent Match for Donations to "Songs for Tomorrow"

Buffalo Native and Acclaimed Actress Christine Baranski is Honorary Chairperson

AMHERST, N.Y. - MusicalFare Theatre, seeking to build on its successes in creating original productions and take them to regional and national stages, is launching a yearlong fund-raising campaign backed by M&T Bank.

With "Songs for Tomorrow: MusicalFare Theatre's 2004-05 M&T Bank Matching Fund Campaign," the Amherst-based professional musical theater company hopes to raise $300,000 to eliminate the debt remaining on the theater's 2001 expansion and renovation. In addition, part of the funding will be used to enhance MusicalFare's rehearsal space, production capability, and box office technology.

Completing those investments will allow the not-for-profit MusicalFare to step up its efforts to develop and promote original productions such as last season's RENEWING WRIGHTand ZOOMA ZOOMA, as well as the attendance-record-setting CHANGE PARTNERS: A FRED ASTAIRE TALE, said MusicalFare Executive and Artistic Director Randall Kramer.

"We are creating original, innovative, and important musical theater productions that have become solid hits with local audiences, and they can also be successful at regional and even national stages such as Off-Broadway, "Kramer said. "New resources will allow us to promote these and future original productions more aggressively to new audiences."

Campaign Launch

MusicalFare will formally launch the "Songs for Tomorrow" campaign at its 2004 gala, the theater's largest annual fund-raising event, at 5 p.m. Oct. 2 at the Country Club of Buffalo. After the gala, MusicalFare supporters will attend an 8 p.m. performance of Change Partners, the first production of the theater company's 15th anniversary season.

M&T, known as a leading supporter of the arts in Buffalo Niagara, will contribute $1 for each $2 in new money raised by MusicalFare in the campaign, a 50 percent match. The campaign's goal is to raise $200,000 to leverage $100,000 in bank matching funds.

"M&T recognizes the importance of the arts to our quality of life and their potential to be a catalyst for cultural tourism, and MusicalFare is becoming a significant force in that regard," said Shelley C. Drake, president of the M&T Charitable Foundation. "We encourage Buffalo Niagara to join us in helping MusicalFare achieve its vision.

MusicalFare's board of directors has helped get the campaign off to a great start by pledging more than $40,000, said Dr. Philip Morey, the campaign's chairman.

"Our board has embraced this effort because they believe in the great work that MusicalFare has done in recent years and they want to see our reputation enhanced as one of the top musical theater companies in the Northeast," Morey said. "M&T has given us a tremendous opportunity and cannot be thanked enough for its generosity and vision."

Honorary Chairperson

Morey said "Songs for Tomorrow" also has enlisted the help of Buffalo native and acclaimed theater, television, and movie actress Christine Baranski, who is serving as honorary chairperson for the campaign. Baranski is a two-time Tony Award winner on Broadway and won an Emmy for her role on the hit television series "Cybill," and her movie career has included roles in many top films, including the Academy Award winning musical "Chicago" in 2002.

"As a longtime Broadway actress who also was part of a fantastic film that celebrated the musical genre, I can attest to the enormous popularity and importance of musical theater," Baranski said. "MusicalFare is undeniably on track to contribute with unique and notable works for the regional and national stage. It embodies vision, talent, discipline, creativity - all of the hallmarks of a great theatrical experience."

Baranski is planning to attend a future MusicalFare event sometime during the next year when her filming schedule will allow it, Morey said. A series of entertaining fund-raising events is being planned to showcase MusicalFare's artistic accomplishments, original productions, and performers from the past 15 years.

Morey said the campaign is also reaching out to area businesses and MusicalFare patrons for contributions. Morey said those interested in contributing to MusicalFare Theatre's "Songs for Tomorrow" campaign can call him at 636-5360 or Kramer at 839-8565.

Success with Original Productions

MusicalFare's success with original productions has especially been on display since April with critical and audience enthusiasm for ZOOMA ZOOMA and CHANGE PARTNERS.

ZOOMA ZOOMA is an original revue of the music of the wild and boisterous singer Louis Prima written by local musician Jim Runfola and local director/choreographer Michael J. Walline. To accommodate ticket demand, MusicalFare extended the show for an unprecedented second run in late June after its April-May premiere. Kramer said he is in discussions with several regional theaters about staging the show in 2005 in hopes of showcasing it for national musical theater representatives.

CHANGE PARTNERS opened in early September to equally glowing reviews and sold-out houses. Area native Jeffry Denman, a University at Buffalo graduate and Broadway actor, wrote CHANGE PARTNERS. Denman had a key role in the hit Broadway show, THE PRODUCERS, starring Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane.

Denman starred in the title role of CHANGE PARTNERS for the first few weeks of the show's world-premiere run at MusicalFare. The production is his third musical about Astaire, the legendary dancer and leading man. Denman's previous productions, a 1992 revue entitled ASTAIRE!, and 1997's DANCING IN THE DARK, also premiered at MusicalFare.

Telling Regional Stories Nationally

Kramer said MusicalFare also hopes to continue developing original productions such as Renewing Wright that highlight compelling and nationally important Buffalo Niagara regional stories and history.

RENEWING WRIGHT, researched and written by Kramer, tells how Buffalo industrialist Darwin D. Martin helped save legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright's career. The production garnered regional and national media attention and interest from a New York production company.

"These are among the original productions that this campaign can help promote," Kramer said. "It will be a great benefit for MusicalFare and for Buffalo if these shows go national."

Among the other projects Kramer said MusicalFare will pursue is the development of a musical telling the story of the famed Colored Musicians Club in Buffalo that featured legendary blues and jazz musicians in the 1930s and 1940s such as Duke Ellington, Dizzie Gillespie, and Billie Holiday.

MusicalFare Theatre is a leading professional musical theater company in the Northeast and a prominent part of Buffalo Niagara's diverse theater experience. The award-winning musical theater company that has produced more than 90 shows, entertaining more than 250,000 people in Western New York.

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