Lisa Howard (Escape to Margaritaville), Lee Slobotkin (The Book of Mormon), and Jerad Bortz (Wicked) have joined the May 23 industry concert presentation of Mary and Max, the new musical from songwriter Bobby Cronin and book writer Crystal Skillman.

They join a principal cast that features the previously announced Lauren Elder (Hair, Side Show) as Mary, Anthony Galde (Wicked, Starlight Express) as Max, and Nick Adams (currently starring in the Falsettos national tour) as Damian. Howard will play Mary’s mother, Vera Lorraine Dinkle, with Slobotkin as Sam/Young Damian/Young Max. The reading also marks the stage return for Wicked cast member Bortz, who was paralyzed in a car accident last winter. He will play Father, who tells the story of Mary and Max to his bullied teen daughter.

Also cast are Ali Baldacchino, Lynn Craig, Genesis Collado, and Barrington Lee.

Hersh Ellis directs, with music direction by Joshua Zecher-Ross.

Here’s how it’s billed: “Bullied 13-year old Lily has locked herself in her room. Her newly single father doesn't know what to do. Always a storyteller, he chooses to finally tell Lily the story of Mary and Max, a tale set in the 1970s about the seemingly random friendship between Mary Daisy Dinkle, a chubby and lonely eight-year-old with a birthmark on her forehead the color of poo who lives in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia and Max Jerry Horowitz, a 44-year-old obese New Yorker who is soon diagnosed with a newly named disorder, Asperger’s Syndrome. As penpals, they go through their highest and lowest times together, spanning twenty-plus years.”

The 65-minute concert presentation will take place May 23 at 2 PM and 7 PM. Email [email protected] to attend.