The Bowery Boys is a family show with complex themes, similar to a Charles Dickens story, about a group of disenfranchised boys who live in New York’s gritty Bowery district in the 1880s. It features contemporary adaptations of George M. Cohan’s songs with lyrics and an original book written by David H. Bell, an associate professor of theater at Northwestern, and adapted music by Northwestern alumnus Jeremy Cohen.

The show’s 24-member cast is comprised of Northwestern music theater students and four professional actors, including three child actors.

The Bowery Boys includes three Cohan classics -- “Yankee Doodle Boy,” “Give My Regards to Broadway” and “Mary’s a Grand Old Name.” Nearly 15 additional Cohan songs -- some never heard before -- that Jeremy Cohen unearthed during his research at the Library of Congress also will be part of the show. These Cohan songs now have new lyrics and adapted melody lines that are contemporary and innovative.

Bell’s 25-year professional career has spanned a wide range of international and national projects as a director, choreographer, playwright and lyricist. In Chicago, he has received 34 Joseph Jefferson Award nominations, winning the award 10 times. His work at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier includes the recent productions of Taming of the Shrew, As You Like It and the Comedy of Errors. He also has directed both on and off-Broadway. His work on London’s West End production of Hot Mikado earned Bell a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for best author.

The Bowery Boys is a developmental co-production of Northwestern’s American Music Theatre Project (AMTP) and the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, where the new musical will officially debut in December 2008.