MISS YOU LIKE HELL to Receive Cast Recording

Ghostlight Records has announced it will record the new musical Miss You Like Hell, the New York premiere production from The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham), for an original cast recording to be released later this year.

With book and lyrics by Quiara Alegría Hudes, music and lyrics by Erin McKeown, and choreography by Danny Mefford, the new musical was directed by Public Theater Resident Director and Founder of Public Works Lear deBessonet, and stars Daphne Rubin-Vega and Gizel Jiménez. The recording is being produced by Erin McKeown and Kurt Deutsch.

Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes and acclaimed, genre-breaking singer/songwriter Erin McKeown brought their highly anticipated new musical to The Public earlier this season, which ran from March 20 to May 13. Two-time Tony nominee Daphne Rubin-Vega is Beatriz, a flawed mom to 16 year-old Olivia, and an undocumented immigrant on the verge of deportation. After living estranged from each other for years, a mother and daughter embark on a road trip that crosses state lines. Together they meet Americans of different backgrounds, shared dreams, and complicated truths in this powerful new show with vast heart and fierce humor.

"Miss You Like Hell is important musical theater," says the label's founder Kurt Deutsch. "It sings of America right now. Gizel and Daphne give such heartfelt and beautiful performances that deserve to be preserved. Quiara is a genius. Erin, welcome to the theatre. We are honored to have you. Thank you Public Theater for producing the show. It is an honor to work with you on so many albums."

The complete cast for Miss You Like Hell includes Marinda Anderson (Ensemble), Danny Bolero (Manuel), Andrew Cristi (Ensemble), Latoya Edwards (Pearl), Shawna M. Hamic (Ensemble), Marcus Paul James (Ensemble), Gizel Jiménez (Olivia), David Patrick Kelly (Higgins), Michael Mulheren (Mo), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Beatriz), and Martín Solá (Manuel Understudy).

Miss You Like Hell featured scenic design by Riccardo Hernandez; costume design by Emilio Sosa; lighting design by Tyler Micoleau; sound design by Jessica Paz; and hair and makeup design by J. Jared Janas and Dave Bova.

Michael Aarons serves as Music Coordinator, with Cody Owen Stein serving as Music Director. The show features orchestrations by Charlie Rosen and Erin McKeown. Julie McBride is the Music Supervisor, who provided additional arrangements.

Ghostlight Records has previously collaborated with Quiara Alegría Hudes on their Grammy Award winning recording of In The Heights. The label has joined forces with The Public Theater on original cast recordings such as Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Giant, First Daughter Suite, See What I Wanna See, and Fortress of Solitude.

QUIARA ALEGRÍA HUDES (Book & Lyrics) is the first Latina to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. A playwright, strong wife and mother of two, barrio feminist and native of West Philly, U.S.A., her stage works include In the Heights (Tony Award for Best Musical), Water By the Spoonful (Pulitzer Prize for Drama), Daphne's Dive, and The Happiest Song Plays Last.

Erin McKeown (Music & Lyrics) is a musician, writer, and producer who has released 10 albums since her 2000 debut, Distillation. As a bandleader, she has performed at Bonnaroo, Glastonbury, and Newport Folk Festivals. McKeown's songs are a familiar presence on NPR and the BBC and have appeared in commercials, film, and television. A graduate of Brown, McKeown has been a resident artist at Providence, RI's AS220, a 2011 fellow at Harvard's Berkman-Klein Center, and the recipient of a 2016 writing fellowship from The Studios of Key West. Miss You Like Hell is her first theatrical composition.

Lear deBessonet (Director) is currently Resident Director at The Public Theater and Founder of Public Works. Her credits for The Public Theater include A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, The Winter's Tale, The Odyssey, Good Person of Szechwan, and Romeo and Juliet. Additional recent credits include Big River for Encores! and Venus for Signature Theatre. Other directing credits: La Jolla Playhouse; Encores! Off- Center; The Foundry Theatre; LCT3; The Old Globe; Ten Thousand Things Theater; Clubbed Thumb. Awards: Obie Award, Lortel Award, Lilly Award, Doris Duke Impact Award and TCG's Peter Zeisler Award.

Danny Mefford (Choreographer)'s choreography credits include the Tony Award-winning Best Musicals Dear Evan Hansen and Fun Home, the currently-running national tour of The Sound of Music for director Jack O'Brien, Much Ado About Nothing and Love's Labour's Lost (Drama Desk nomination) at the Delacorte Theater, The Bridges of Madison County on Broadway, and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at The Public Theater and on Broadway (Astaire and Lortel nominations). He is currently working on the new series "RISE" for NBC.

The Public Theater is theater of, by, and for the people. Artist-driven, radically inclusive, and fundamentally democratic, The Public continues the work of its visionary founder Joe Papp as a civic institution engaging, both on-stage and off, with some of the most important ideas and social issues of today. Conceived over 60 years ago as one of the nation's first nonprofit theaters, The Public has long operated on the principles that theater is an essential cultural force and that art and culture belong to everyone. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public's wide breadth of programming includes an annual season of new work at its landmark home at Astor Place, Free Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, The Mobile Unit touring throughout New York City's five boroughs, Public Forum, Under the Radar, Public Studio, Public Works, Public Shakespeare Initiative, and Joe's Pub. Since premiering HAIR in 1967, The Public continues to create the canon of American Theater and is currently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-winning musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Their programs and productions can also be seen regionally across the country and around the world. The Public has received 59 Tony Awards, 169 Obie Awards, 53 Drama Desk Awards, 54 Lortel Awards, 32 Outer Critic Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Desk Awards, and 6 Pulitzer Prizes. publictheater.org

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus