DENVER (CNS) — During Holy Week, a new musical theater depiction of the Easter story will hit the big screen at nearly 300 movie theaters around the country for a special one-night showing March 22.
Titled “Easter Mysteries,” the film was produced by Denver-based Fathom Events and New York-based SimonSays Entertainment.
Tickets can be purchased online by going to www.fathomevents.com/event/easter-mysteries or at participating theater box offices, which are listed at the site under the tab “Theater Locations.” The film, being made available through Fathom’s digital broadcast network, will be shown in all venues at 7 p.m. local time.
According to a news release, the film is a Passion play for modern audiences and features veteran Broadway actors and singers from stages productions such as “Les Miserables,” “Mary Poppins” and “The Phantom of the Opera.”
Broadway veteran actor Phillip Boykin, who plays Caiaphas, described it as “a Passion play like no other.”
“The love bursts forth and the music soars. First there was ‘Godspell,’ then there was ‘Jesus Christ Superstar,’ then there was ‘Joseph,’ and now there’s ‘Easter Mysteries,’ and it’s at the top of my list,'” he said in a statement.
Directed by Daniel Goldstein, “Easter Mysteries” was staged and filmed before a live audience, according to Fathom Events.
The music, libretto and lyrics are by Tony Award-winning Broadway producer John O’Boyle with musical arrangements and music direction by Milton Granger.
Included with the film is an interfaith panel discussion with prominent Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders discussing the production and its ability to affect interfaith relations.
Panelists include: New York Auxiliary Bishop John J. O’Hara; Sanaa Nadim, chaplain of the Muslim Student Association at State University of New York at Stonybrook; evangelist Joyce L. Rodgers, founder and CEO of Primary Purpose Ministries; Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis and co-host of “Religion on the Line” on WABC radio in New York; Tony Suarez, executive vice president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; and Father Brian McWeeney, director of the Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the Archdiocese of New York.