Utah Valley University’s School of the Arts team welcomes the pre-Broadway debut of the play “Fly More Than You Fall” to the Noorda Center for the Performing Arts.

Broadway professionals Jeff Whiting, Eric Holmes, and Nat Zegree will give the community the first glance of the show before it heads to Broadway in 2020. Locals will be able to audition for the Utah production on Feb. 2. Seventeen of the roles will be cast with talent out of the Utah audition. More information is available at this link.

Local talent selected at the audition will perform alongside lead roles being cast directly from Broadway. Visual components of the production, like scenery and costumes, will be designed by Broadway professionals, but crafted locally by our UVU students, who are responsible for costume and set design for Sundance Summer Theatre.“This professional production of ‘Fly More Than You Fall’ will give our immensely talented UVU students the opportunity to work side by side with Broadway professionals — both on and off stage,” said Stephen Pullen, dean of the School of the Arts.

Holmes, one of the writers for the play, said that for himself and Zegree, the production is an extremely personal musical. 

“Since we both lost parents early in our life, we wanted to create a show that dealt with grief with hope and humor,” he said. “Grieving can be an extremely lonely experience but when an audience takes the journey together, they open up emotionally as they laugh and cry together. As much as the show deals with death, it's truly a celebration of life. We are beyond thrilled to debut the first fully staged production at UVU."

Jeff Whiting, the show’s director added, “I’m so thrilled about the opportunity to debut ‘Fly More Than You Fall’ at UVU. I’m so lucky to get to develop a lot of new works for Broadway, and I can say this project is truly unique. It’s a tale about a young family facing pretty difficult circumstances, and as heavy as the subject matter is, the fact is that one of the characters takes us on a fantasy to help escape — and ultimately resolve — a really difficult subject, a family member who is taken too soon. This is the kind of show where you will leave holding members of your family closer, and finding hope and joy in even the most difficult times. It’s a story about hope.”

“Fly More Than You Fall” will open to the public in September and will be performed in The Noorda Center for the Performing Arts, the newest building on campus. At 130,000 square feet, its design is the perfect backdrop for the caliber of this production before it goes to Broadway.

  

About Jeff Whiting, Eric Holmes and Nat Zegree

JEFF WHITING, director/choreographer

Recently acclaimed as a “director with a joyous touch” by The New York Times, Jeff Whiting is a director and choreographer with work on Broadway, television, special events, and concerts around the world. He was also featured in a TED talk sharing his philosophy of “Open Jar Thinking.”

ERIC HOLMES, book/lyrics

Eric Holmes studied directing and playwriting at Indiana University and has diverse experience in television and film. His play “Black Friday” was nominated for the Otis Guernsey New Voices Playwriting award in 2013. Holmes’s latest collaboration, “Fly More Than You Fall,” received its first workshop at Syracuse University in the spring of 2018.

NAT ZEGREE, music/lyrics

Nat Zegree has been singing and playing piano since he was a child. Zegree was nominated for two Broadway World Regional Awards for his performance as Jerry Lee Lewis in the Ogunquit Playhouse production of “Million Dollar Quartet.” He has also been heard in Pasek and Paul’s musical “Dear Evan Hansen,” which premiered at the Arena Theatre in Washington, D.C. He has also music directed and conducted such shows as “Chicago,” “The Wedding Singer,” “The Rocky Horror Show,” and “Schoolhouse Rock Live.”