MTC Participates In Worldwide Fundraiser 'All Together Now!'

MOORESTOWN, NJ — The Moorestown Theater Company (MTC) will stand in unity with theater companies around the world this weekend as they recover from the coronavirus pandemic that shut down the theater world for the last year.

Music Theatre International (MTI) is a New York-based licensing house that provides rights to perform musicals to theater companies, including MTC, on a local level. This weekend, MTI is waiving all fees to allow schools and theatres around the globe with an exclusive musical revue featuring songs from MTI's catalog of shows.

“All Together Now!” serves as a fundraiser for local theaters to perform this weekend. MTC will have four performances this weekend, beginning at 6 p.m. Friday night at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, 236 East Main Street in Maple Shade.

Other shows follow at 7 p.m. Saturday; and on Sunday, 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Tickets are $15 and can be bought online at moorestowntheatercompany.org, or in the lobby 60 minutes before curtain time.

The theater ‘house’ will open 30 minutes before curtain time. Those interested can call MTC at 856-778-8357 with any questions or to ask about its COVID-19 Policy, which is posted on its website before you can purchase tickets.

“Moorestown Theater Company is honored to be part of our second ‘World Premiere’ musical, as we are participating with 2,500+ other Theater Companies and schools in presenting ‘All Together Now!’ this weekend,” MTC Founding Producing Artistic Director Mark Morgan said. “Our four performances are part of 5,500+ performances that will be occurring in all 50 United States and in over 40 countries throughout the world. We are truly thankful that our good friends Drew Cohen and John Prignano from MTI have created this ‘global event celebrating local theater’, and we hope that all Burlington County Musical Theater Lovers will come out and support our fund-raising version of this Broadway Revue.”

“We’ve streamlined our licensing process for this special event, and there are no restrictions or limits on how many theatres in a particular geographical area can license the revue,” MTI Chief Operating Officer and Director of Education & Development John Prignano said. “Instead, we hope that as many theatres as possible produce the revue on their own, or come together with other organizations in their communities to mount a joint production. We also wanted to give theatres as much creative input as possible.”

MTC was among the few theater companies that was able to stay open and putting on shows throughout the course of the coronavirus pandemic. MTC has produced 17 live musicals since June 2020.

Many of those shows were outside, and they all followed the safety guidelines as set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Many of those shows came with their struggles, such as cancellations due to inclement weather, wind having an impact on sets and other issues. MTC is looking to move forward with the rest of the theater world, and this weekend’s show presents a lot of flexibility for its 32-person cast consisting of actors ages 10-and-up.

“The revue can be presented as a concert-like performance or groups can fully stage, choreograph and costume each song as it is presented in the full version of the show,” Prignano said. “Theatres are encouraged to feature as diverse a cast as possible, in order to reflect the composition of the entire community. ‘All Together Now!’ is about bringing people back to the theatre, whether as audience members or cast, crew and musicians. Productions will benefit from a variety of races, genders, abilities, body types, and sizes, so we encourage groups to spread diversity as best they can across all the roles in the production.”

“The excitement for All Together Now! among our customers is growing by the day,” MTI Worldwide President and CEO Drew Cohen said. “Our theatre industry colleagues have also been incredibly supportive and we are thrilled to have a growing roster of Partners (listed below) contributing from so many disciplines within the professional theatre community. This is truly a collaborative effort, and we are all extremely excited that any and every type of theatre from schools to the pros has the opportunity to produce MTI’s All Together Now! in their communities.”