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about the show
The hit show ALTAR BOYZ is a foot-stomping, rafter-raising, musical comedy about a fictitious Christian boy-band at the end of their national "Raise the Praise" tour. The Boyz are five all-singing, all-dancing heartthrobs: Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan and Abraham. Their message of love, tolerance and faith is one that even non-believers can fully appreciate and enjoy. Let laughter cleanse your soul: spend an evening with the Altar Boyz!
Left to right are:
Braulio Elicer
(Juan), Louis–Philippe Deslauriers (Mark), Shayne Devouges
(Luke), Yanick Lanthier (Matthew),
and Chris Barillaro
(Abraham).
history
Altar Boyz was created in 2004. It was the brainchild of producer Ken Davenport (Somewhere in Time, My first Time, The Awesome 80’s Prom) and Mark Kessler. They assembled a talented team of creators, including book writer Kevin Del Aguila and composers Michael Patrick Walker and Gary Adler, each of whom contributed several of the Boyz’ wonderful songs. The show began as a workshop, during which time the characters were developed and changed. Songs were tested; dialogue was created and adjusted. Eventually the show grew into the full-length 95-minute production we know today.
ALTAR BOYZ had its world premiere at the inaugural edition of the New York Musical Theatre Festival. It was an immediate hit with critics and audiences alike. "If laughter is a form of salvation, my soul is clean" wrote Howard Kissel of the New York Post. "A heavenly hit" said the New York Times.
Based on its overwhelming success, ALTAR BOYZ began an open-ended Off-Broadway run at New World Stages (then called Dodger Stages when the show originally opened) on March 1, 2005. The show celebrated its 1,000th performance in July, 2007 and its 3rd anniversary Off-Broadway in March of this year. It continues to play to appreciative audiences eight times a week .
Already there have been productions of ALTAR BOYZ in Hungary and South Korea. The show opens in June in Australia at about the same time as our production, the first and only English/French company in Canada and the world.
Thanks to an original made-in-Quebec translation by Claire Armange and Stephen Pietrantoni and a talented bilingual cast, Montreal can now enjoy the original English version of ALTAR BOYZ or its French-language version, LES Z'ENFANTS DE CHŒUR.
the Montreal production
Obtaining the necessary authorization to create the French version of the show was the fruit of many months of discussion and weeks of careful translation. The final result is one of the most dynamic and faithful adaptations of musical theatre ever produced in Canada.
The cast of the Montreal production of Altar Boyz includes five talented triple threats: Chris Barillaro, Louis—Philippe Deslauriers, Shayne Devouges, Braulio Elicer and Yanick Lanthier. Together they provide living proof that Montreal is home to high-calibre and even world-class musical theatre talent.