A Tale of Two Cities (musical) - Production History

Production History

Tale creator Santoriello worked on the music beginning in the late 1980s. In 1994, her brother, actor Alex Santoriello, produced and starred in an invitation-only concert styling of the early beginnings of many of the songs in Indianapolis. Some of the numbers showcased in this styling were eventually cut from the show. It was not until 1999 that producers Barbara Russell and Ron Sharpe (both of whom had worked with Alex Santoriello in the original Broadway company of Les Misérables) that the musical officially began readings and workshops to attract producers. In 2002, Russell and Sharpe produced a concept album of the show that featured Alex Santoriello as Dr. Manette / Sydney Carton, Christiane Noll as Lucie Manette, Nick Wyman as John Barsad, Craig Bennett as Jerry Cruncher and Natalie Toro as Madame DeFarge.

On August 19 and 20, 2004, for two performances, Tale was again presented for an invitation-only workshop reading in hopes of finding more backers. The production ran at the Little Shubert Theatre in New York City. 100 fans were invited to each performance of the first New York City public presentation. It starred James Barbour as Sydney Carton, Jenny Powers as Lucie Manette, Gary Morris as Dr. Manette, Gavin Creel as Darnay, Alex Santoriello as Ernest DeFarge and Michelle Dawson as Mme. DeFarge.

In late 2005, Santoriello and producers announced that the show planned an early winter try-out in Chicago, with Broadway plans for spring 2006. However, directing changes and insufficient funds, with one producer leaving, postponed the production.

The following year the show opened at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida, for pre-Broadway tryouts in October and November 2007. The show sold out its entire run and won ten Sarasota Magazine Awards out of twelve nominations, including for some perforers and as "Best Musical." The show starred Barbour as Carton, Derek Keeling as Charles Darnay and Jessica Rush as Lucie, with Natalie Toro as Madame DeFarge. It received mixed to positive notices. Michael Donald Edwards directed, Warren Carlyle choreographed and the creative team included Tony Walton (scenery), David Zinn (costumes), and Richard Pilbrow (lighting).

The musical premiered on Broadway at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, with previews beginning August 19, 2008 and official opening on September 18. The show received mostly negative notices but some positive reviews, most notably from the Huffington Post, Connecticut Post and radio stations WGCH and WMNR. Three days before the musical opened on Broadway, the U.S. stock market fell sharply. In spite of the reviews and while box office receipts for other Broadway shows were tumbling along with the world financial markets, Tale initially posted good box office receipts. But as the economy worsened, the show lost money and closed November 9, 2008, although a previous announcement of closing was posted for November 16.

From February 16 to April 9, 2011, Hale Centre Theatre in Salt Lake City produced the regional premiere of the musical. Both Santoriello and a main producer from the New York production attended and stated being impressed with the cast and production values, particularly the unique set design theatre in the round, of Kacey Udy.

In May 2011, Principia College became the first college to perform Santoriello's musical.

In August 2012, the musical had its Korean language premiere playing 56 performances at the Chung Mu Arts Hall in Seoul Korea. The production received 9 Korea Musical Award nominations including Best Foreign Musical.

On October 21, 2012, the German language premiere was performed by the 'Freies Musical Ensemble' in Münster, Germany, playing 12 performances in total.

The Japanese language premiere is scheduled for Summer of 2013 in Tokyo, Japan.