Music From Michael John LaChiusa, Nellie McKay to Be Featured by Chase Brock Experience

The Chase Brock Experience will offer two pieces, Whoa, Nellie! and Mirror Mirror, at the Connelly Theatre July 8-11.

Whoa, Nellie!, set to Nellie McKay’s album Obligatory Villagers, is a mash-up of styles and cultural references. In it, a band of irrepressible pranksters/dancers joyfully move chameleon-like from the Caribbean-tinged hip hop of “Identity Theft” to the disco-inflected whacking and voguing inspired by the refrain “Saturday Night in the Mens’ Ensemble Dressing Room” to a symphony of hands suggested by McKay’s gospel-inspired “Testify.”

Mirror Mirror, which features a commissioned piano score by award-winning Broadway and opera composer Michael John LaChiusa, contemplates sexuality, intimacy, self-love and loneliness as three male characters struggle with their sexual and emotional identities. Jamie Schmidt will provide live piano accompaniment for the piece.

The company will feature Dean de Luna, Ashley Eichbauer, Erica Furst, Drew Heflin, Yukiko Kashiki, Connor Kilian Weigand, Micki Weiner. and Michael Wright. The creative team will include Dane Laffrey (set and costume design) and Scott Zielinski (lighting design).

Following the performances, audience members will be invited to have their own fun dancing in the Connelly lobby where there will be stations featuring the recently released Wii game, Dance on Broadway, which Brock choreographed.

For further information, visit www.chasebrockexperience.com.