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The full cast has been set for the National Tour of Altar Boyz which will open at The LaSalle Bank Theatre on October 10th. Matthew Buckner (as Matthew), Ryan J Ratliff (Mark), John Arthur Greene (Luke), Jay Garcia (Juan) and Nick Blaemire (Abraham) will star in the musical when it kicks off a 30-week National Tour with the three-week engagement in Chicago.
Altar Boyz, the acclaimed musical comedy now in its second year Off-Broadway at New World Stages, is the winner of the coveted Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical Off-Broadway, and the longest running new musical comedy to open in New York in years. It was also recently awarded the Audience Award for Favorite Long Running Musical from Broadway.com. “Full of sharp parody, sinfully spectacular dancing, and irreverent humor, this spoof about a heavenly guy-group is adored by audiences and critics alike. With an extraordinary mix of side-splitting songs ‘convincing enough to be played on MTV,’ uncontrollable laughs and lighthearted fun,” according to press notes.
The show, is a musical-comedy spoof about a fictional Christian pop group (with one nice Jewish boy) questioning their faith -- in each other. The music and lyrics are by Gary Adler and Michael Patrick Walker, and a book by Kevin Del Aguila, it is based on a concept by Marc Kessler and Ken Davenport. The show is directed by Stafford Arima and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli.
In addition to Chicago, the national tour of Altar Boyz will play engagements in Austin, Boston, Baltimore, Birmingham, Dallas, Ft. Lauderdale, Hawaii, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Sarasota, Seattle, Tempe, Tucson, and Wilmington
Cast Bios
MATTHEW BUCKNER (Matthew) joins Altar Boyz from Orlando where he had his hand in everything he could. While pursuing a recording career, he was featured on the UPN reality show "The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliott" where he became one of the three finalists. He has performed in various shows at Universal Studios, Seaworld, and Disney. He is also a member of the popular Orlando based vocal a capella group 4:2:five who won Patron's Pick for their venue at the Orlando Fringe Festival.
RYAN J RATLIFF (Mark) is ecstatic to be joining "Altar Boyz on the Road" -- the power of prayer is awesome! Ryan grew up in La Rue, Ohio, and is a proud graduate of The Ohio State University. Favorite recent roles include Jinx in Forever Plaid, Linus in You're a Good Man,.., and Uncle Ry-Ry, to his little nephew. Prior to Altar Boyz, Ryan could be seen on Celebrity Cruise Lines. Yay free travel! Aside from performing, Ryan plans to actually use his Music Education degree one day, to inspire young performers, just as he was.
JOHN ARTHUR GREENE (Luke) Off–Broadway: MIM (Luke). Regional: tick, tick, BOOM...(Jon), Blood Brothers (Mickey), Jekyll & Hyde starring Sebastian Bach (Newsboy), Chess (Freddie), Mame (Junior Babcock), Sound of Music (Rolf), Pippin (Leading Player), Footloose (Jeter/Cowboy Bob). Film: You’ve Got Mail, The Thomas Crowne Affair, Dirt Nap, Keeping the Faith.
JAY GARCIA (Juan) is thrilled to be joining Altar Boyz. He originally hails from Port St. Lucie, Florida. Graduate of The American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Credits include Avenue Q, Las Vegas Co. (appeared as Princeton/Rod). National Tour: Blue’s Clues Live. Regional/Theatre: Disney’s Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular (Aladdin), Joseph…Dreamcoat (Joseph), Damn Yankees (Joe Hardy), Peter Pan, Bye Bye Birdie, A Few Good Men.Film/Television: Stay, Third Watch.
NICK BLAEMIRE (Abraham) is thrilled to be one of the Boyz! A DC native and recent graduate of the University of Michigan's Musical Theatre Department, his credits include the pre-Broadway reading of Cry-Baby (Whiffle/Ensemble), title roles in Calvin Berger (World Premiere, Gloucester Stage) and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (Lucille Lortel Theatre, dir. Kevin del Aguila), Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Show (Actor's Theatre of Washington), Hortensio in Kiss Me, Kate (Weston Playhouse) and himself in Pasek and Paul's Edges (cast recording). Along with book writer James Gardiner, Nick also composed the musical Ass Backwards, which has recent been presented at Joe's Pub, the Kennedy Center and Signature Theatre.