“Rodgers’ Romance”, an original musical review created and directed by Act II managing director David-Michael Kenney, begins at three-week-run at Act II Playhouse, 56 E. Butler Avenue, Ambler on June 13 and continues through Saturday, June 30. All tickets are $25 and are on sale at the box office, online at www.act2.org, or by calling 215-654-0200.

This summer’s “extra” presentation is in response to those who have been asking for more musicals at the playhouse. This new production features 24 songs from the amazing teams of Rodgers and Hammerstein and Rodgers and Hart.

Whether it’s a “beautiful morning” or an “enchanted evening” the memorable songs from stage and screen will be sung by music theatre professionals, Chris Faith, Julie Kleiner, John O’Hara and Michaela Reardon, without microphones and in Act II’s intimate 130-seat theatre. The Music Director is Ryan Fleming. Songs will not be listed in the playbill, instead each audience member will have a ballot on which they are to identify 12 of the 24 songs by title and by which show or film they were sung. Ballots will be collected at the end of each performance and placed in a drawing for a discount card good for purchases at local Ambler businesses.

In the small world category, Director Kenney and Ms. Reardon, who will be making her professional stage debut in this production, both graduated from Radnor High albeit 20 years apart. At his recent 30th high school reunion Kenney ran in to a classmate (Michaela’s aunt) along with Micheala’s mother, Sharon Reardon who teaches at Radnor, who told him about the very talented young lady who had just graduated from Penn State with a theatre degree. The rest, as they say, is history.

For additional media information – Ted Taylor, 215-576-7212.

The cast

Chris Faith returns to Act II Playhouse, having performed in Good Evening in 2005. Chris has performed Off-Broadway in The Secret Garden and Like It Is at the York Theatre. Last summer, he played opposite Linda Eder in The Seduction of Sheila Valentine at the Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center. Locally, Chris has appeared at the Wilma Theater, The Arden Theatre Company, 1812 Productions (two Barrymore nominations- Best Ensemble), Act II Playhouse, Bristol Riverside Theatre, and the Sellersville Theatre. He holds an MFA in Acting from Brandeis University, and he and his wife, Reina, own a children's' performing arts school called Dance Arts Collaborative.

Julie Kleiner will be appearing for the first time at Act II Playhouse. Favorite theatre credits include: Big (First Broadway National Tour), Judy Haynes in White Christmas (Actors’ Playhouse), Lucille in Parade (NYU), Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof (Carbonell nomination, Hollywood Playhouse), and Carrie in Carrie the Musical (Stagedoor Manor). TV/Film: Camp (IFC, director Todd Graff) Julie is the President and co-founder of Shifting Ground Productions – a not-for-profit company bringing live theatre to pediatric hospitals.

John O’Hara has been seen at Act II in both Harry Chapin musicals, Lies and Legends (2000) and Remember When The Music (2004- Barrymore Nomination.) He also coordinates Act II’s play reading series. Favorite local credits have included Robin Hood (People’s Light), Passion (Wilma), Jacques Brel (Adrienne), and Damn Yankees (Walnut). He was cited by Theatre World, for his performance in Box Office of the Damned. He is the resident playwright for Theatre Arts Center and some of his works have been seen on stage at Act II, Adrienne, Hedgerow, North Penn High School, Playcrafters, Swarthmore Players and Bristol Riverside. John can be seen in the Mississippi area as “Ralph” the face of the Tunica Resorts Casino.

Michaela Reardon is making her professional debut on Act II Playhouse’s stage. Michaela is a recent graduate of The Pennsylvania State University’s Theater Department and has studied with the Atlantic Theater Company in New York and The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Most recently, Michaela has been seen performing with The Irish Repertory Theater and The Delaware Shakespeare Festival.

Ryan Fleming (Music Director) is a graduate of Westminster Choir College with a degree in Music Education. As a member of The Westminster Choir, and The Westminster Symphonic Choir, he has sung with conductors Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Ricardo Muti, Zdenek Macal, Hugh Wolff, and Robert Shaw. As a pianist, Ryan has accompanied the Bucks County Singers, Pennsbury School Choirs, VOICES Chorale, the choirs of The College of New Jersey, and voice classes at The University of the Arts. He is currently the Director of Music at Emilie United Methodist Church in Levittown, where he is the organist and director of multiple choirs. He has sung internationally at The Spoleto Festival in Spoleto, Italy, and in England at the Salisbury, Portsmouth, and Rochester Cathedrals. Ryan also sings in the opera chorus of The Philadelphia Opera Company, and has been a member of The Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia. His theater credits include Music Director and/or Pianist for Annie, Fiddler on the Roof, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Guys and Dolls, Bye, Bye, Birdie, Nunsense, West Side Story, Company, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Parade, Pageant, Sweeney Todd, The Last Five Years, The Sound of Music, The Music Man, Oklahoma, Seussical, Beauty and the Beast, Aida, and roles in Arsenic and Old Lace, and Godspell.