CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
ANGELA LANSBURY
TO STAR IN THE FIRST BROADWAY REVIVAL OF
STEPHEN SONDHEIM & HUGH WHEELER’S
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC
DIRECTED BY TREVOR NUNN
OPENS DECEMBER 13, 2009 ON BROADWAY AT THE WALTER KERR THEATRE
PREVIEWS BEGIN NOVEMBER 24, 2009
“A perfect production. Sexy and sophisticated. Not to be missed.” – Mail On Sunday, London
“Trevor Nunn’s production is unforgettable” – The Times, London
Academy Award–winner Catherine Zeta-Jones, five-time Tony Award®–winner Angela Lansbury and Olivier Award–nominee Alexander Hanson will star in the first Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s Tony Award–winning masterpiece A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, directed by Tony Award®-winner Trevor Nunn. The production begins previews on Tuesday, November 24, 2009 and opens on Sunday, December 13, 2009 at the Walter Kerr Theatre (219 West 48th Street).
Catherine Zeta-Jones, in her Broadway debut, will play the role of Desirée Armfeldt. Angela Lansbury will play Madame Armfeldt. Alexander Hanson will play Fredrik Egerman, a role he created in the recent Trevor Nunn-directed production of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory and in the West End.
The cast also features Aaron Lazar (Les Misérables) as Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm, Erin Davie (Grey Gardens) as Countess Charlotte Malcolm, Leigh Ann Larkin (Gypsy) as Petra, Hunter Ryan Herdlicka as Henrik Egerman, and Ramona Mallory (The Fantasticks) as Anne Egerman. The cast also includes Bradley Dean, Marissa McGowan, Betsy Morgan, Karen Murphy, Jayne Paterson and Kevin David Thomas. Additional casting, including the role of Fredrika Armfeldt, will be announced at a later date.
Alexander Hanson is appearing with the support of Actors’ Equity Association. The producers gratefully acknowledge Actors’ Equity Association for its assistance to this production.
“I’m honored that Trevor Nunn and Stephen Sondheim asked me to make my Broadway debut in this beautiful production,” said Catherine Zeta-Jones. “I look forward to starting rehearsal with this extraordinary group of people and working with the incomparable Angela Lansbury, whose work I’ve long admired.”
“The circle is complete,” said Angela Lansbury. “I’m back singing the beautiful music of Stephen Sondheim, and working with a lovely young actress, Catherine Zeta-Jones!”
Based on Ingmar Bergman’s film Smiles of a Summer Night, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC is set in a weekend country house in turn of the century Sweden, bringing together surprising liaisons, long simmering passions and a taste of love’s endless possibilities. Hailed as witty and wildly romantic, the story centers on the elegant actress Desirée Armfeldt and the spider’s web of sensuality, intrigue and desire that surrounds her.
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC – featuring a score by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Hugh Wheeler – originally opened in 1973 at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre and ran for 601 performances. Produced and directed by Harold Prince, the production garnered six Tony Awards® including Best Musical and Best Original Score. The Sondheim score features one of the composer’s best-known songs, “Send in the Clowns,” as well as “Every Day a Little Death,” “The Miller’s Son” and “A Weekend in the Country.”
Trevor Nunn’s production of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC debuted to critical acclaim at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory in November 2008 and subsequently transferred to the West End where it played a successful limited engagement through July 25, 2009 at the Garrick Theatre.
The creative team for A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC includes Lynne Page (Choreography), Caroline Humphris (Musical Supervision), David Farley (Set & Costume Design), Hartley T A Kemp (Lighting Design), Dan Moses Shreier and Gareth Owen (Sound Design), Paul Huntley (Wig Design), Jason Carr (Orchestrations) and Tom Murray (Musical Direction).
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC will be produced on Broadway by Tom Viertel, Steven Baruch, Marc Routh, Richard Frankel, the Menier Chocolate Factory, Roger Berlind, David Babani, Andrew Fell and Sonia Friedman Productions.
Additional production information will be announced soon.
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC can be purchased exclusively by American Express® Cardmembers from Wednesday, September 30th to Friday, October 16th. Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Saturday, October 17th and the Walter Kerr Theatre box office (219 West 48th Street) will open on Monday, October 19th. Tickets will be available by calling Telecharge.com at (212) 239-6200, (800) 432-7250 outside the NY metro area, or online at Telecharge.com. Group sales for A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC will begin Wednesday, September 30th. For more information on group sales, contact Theatre Direct International at 212-541-8457 x 2, or outside the NY metro area at 1-800-BROADWAY x 2.
BIOGRAPHIES
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES (Desirée Armfeldt) will make her Broadway debut in A Little Night Music. Zeta-Jones created her Academy Award®-winning performance, portraying the notorious Velma Kelly, in the screen adaptation of the Broadway musical Chicago. The film, which won the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Picture, also starred Renee Zellweger and Richard Gere. Zeta-Jones was nominated for a Golden Globe and took home the 2002 Critics’ Choice Award, the 2002 Screen Actors Guild Award and BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress for her critically acclaimed performance. Upcoming, she will be seen opposite Justin Bartha in The Rebound, playing a newly divorced mother who captures the eye of her neighbor, a much younger man. Zeta-Jones recently starred with Aaron Eckhart in Warner Brothers’ hit romantic comedy No Reservations, and opposite Guy Pearce in the romantic thriller Death Defying Acts. In 2005, she reprised her role as Elena de La Vega in The Legend of Zorro, the sequel to the blockbuster film The Mask of Zorro. She starred in Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s 12, and prior to that appeared opposite Tom Hanks in Steven Spielberg’s The Terminal. Zeta-Jones also starred with George Clooney in the Coen Brothers’ comedy Intolerable Cruelty. Zeta-Jones earned a Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal of the wife of a drug-runner in Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic. The cast of the critically praised film received a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture. She first captured international recognition in the action adventure film, The Mask of Zorro, opposite Antonio Banderas and Anthony Hopkins. Zeta-Jones continued to captivate audiences in 1999, in Jon Amiel’s romantic-thriller Entrapment, opposite screen legend Sean Connery. She also starred with Julia Roberts, Billy Crystal and John Cusack in the ensemble comedy America’s Sweethearts. Born in Wales, Zeta-Jones began her career on the stage in London and following that was cast in the popular Yorkshire Television series, “The Darling Buds of May,” based on the novels of H.E. Bates. Zeta-Jones is married to actor Michael Douglas. They have a son, Dylan, and a daughter, Carys.
ANGELA LANSBURY (Madame Armfeldt) has enjoyed a career without precedent. Her professional life spans more than a half-century during which she flourished, first as a star of motion pictures, then as a five-time Tony Award®-winning Broadway musical star. She appeared most recently on Broadway as Madame Arcati in the 2009 revival of Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit, for which she received her fifth Tony Award®, as well as Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards; and in 2006 in Terrence McNally’s Deuce, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award®. She made her Broadway debut in 1957 starring as Bert Lahr’s wife in the French farce, Hotel Paradiso. In 1960, she came back to Broadway as Joan Plowright’s mother in the season’s most acclaimed drama, A Taste of Honey, by Shelagh Delaney. A year later, she starred on Broadway in her first musical, Anyone Can Whistle. Lansbury returned to New York in triumph in 1966 as Mame, for which she won the first of her unprecedented four Tony Awards® as Best Actress in a Musical. She received the others as the Madwoman of Chaillot in Dear World (1968), as Mama Rose in the 1974 revival of Gypsy and as Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd (1979). From 1984-1996 she starred as Jessica Fletcher, mystery-writing amateur sleuth, on “Murder, She Wrote,” the longest-running detective drama series in the history of television, for which she won four Golden Globe Awards. In 1994, Queen Elizabeth II named her a Commander of the British Empire, and in 2000 she received the Kennedy Center Honors. Angela and her husband Peter were married in 1949 and worked together until his death in 2003. She has three grown children and three grandchildren.
ALEXANDER HANSON (Fredrik Egerman) most recently played this role in the Menier Chocolate Factory production of A Little Night Music, which transferred to the West End’s Garrick Theatre. His other recent stage work includes Otto in the world premiere of the musical Marguerite (Theatre Royal Haymarket; Olivier Award-nominee for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical), and Captain von Trapp in The Sound Of Music (London Palladium). In previous work with Trevor Nunn he played Bassanio in The Merchant Of Venice and Diomedes in Troilus and Cressida (National Theatre), Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard (Adelphi) and Septimus Hodge in Arcadia (Theatre Royal Haymarket). Other theatre credits include: The London Cuckolds, Candide and The Villain’s Opera (NT); Copenhagen (NT tour); Talking To Terrorists and Shallow End (Royal Court); Cracked and Memory Of Water (Hampstead Theatre); Enter The Guardsman and Brel (Donmar); Tonight At 8.30 (Chichester Minerva Theatre); Things We Do For Love (Duchess); Aspects Of Love (Prince of Wales and UK tour); A Little Night Music (Chichester and Piccadilly) and he created the role of Khashoggi in We Will Rock You at the Dominion. His film and television credits include: “Party Animals,” Kidulthood, “Auf Wiedersehen Pet,” “The Fugitives,” “The Last Detective,” “Murder City,” The Merchant of Venice, “The Escort,” “Beech Is Back,” “Heartbeat,” “Six Characters In Search Of An Author,” “Unfinished Business” and “The Bill.” Radio includes: Caravan of Desire, Oxygen, Amy’s View, Cabaret and Gigi.
AARON LAZAR (Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm). Broadway: Impressionism; Les Misérables revival (Drama Desk Nomination); The Light in the Piazza; A Tale of Two Cities; Oklahoma!; The Phantom of the Opera. He also recently in starred in South Pacific at the Hollywood Bowl opposite Reba McEntire and Brian Stokes Mitchell. Film/TV: The Notorious Bettie Page, USA’s upcoming series “White Collar,” “Ugly Betty,” “New Amsterdam,” The Light in the Piazza (Live from Lincoln Center); special guest “The Today Show.” Guest artist: Marvin Hamlisch and the National Symphony Orchestra; Keith Lockhart and The Boston Pops; NY Pops at Carnegie Hall. www.AaronLazar.com
ERIN DAVIE (Countess Charlotte Malcolm). Broadway: Niki Harris in Curtains, Young Little Edie in Grey Gardens (Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut). Off-Broadway: The Glorious Ones, LCT; Infertility (the musical that’s hard to conceive). Encores! Applause (Eve Harrington). National Tours: Swing!, The Music of Andrew Webber. Some Regional: Carousel (Julie), Jekyll & Hyde (Emma), The Student Prince (Princess).
LEIGH ANN LARKIN (Petra) is so honored to be a part of this magnificent piece of theater. Broadway: Gypsy starring Patti LuPone (Dainty June). National Tours: Disney’s On The Record. Regional: The Kennedy Center’s Ragtime (Evelyn Nesbit), New York City Center Gypsy starring Patti LuPone (Dainty June), Williamstown Theater Festival, Pittsburgh CLO, Pittsburgh Musical Theater, New Theater Restaurant, Macau Music Festival, The York Theater. Film/TV: “Flight of the Conchords,” “Lipstick Jungle,” “All My Children,” “The Guiding Light,” “The White Cure,” CBS “Pre-Tony Special.” Recordings: “Gypsy” with Patti LuPone, Disney’s “On The Record.” BFA: Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. www.LeighAnnLarkin.com
HUNTER RYAN HERDLICKA (Henrik Egerman). Broadway debut. Hunter is a native of Dallas, Texas and a 2009 graduate of Carnegie Mellon. Regional credits: Fiddler on the Roof (Motel) & Othello with the Utah Shakespearean Festival; The Full Monty (Malcolm), High School Musical (Ryan), My Fair Lady (Freddy) and The Wedding Singer (George) with West Virginia Public Theatre. Readings/workshops: Bubble Boy: The Musical (Bubble Boy) and Mrs. Sharp with the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera/ASCAP & The Greenwood Tree (Poet) for NYMF 2009. Proud member of Actors’ Equity.
RAMONA MALLORY (Anne Egerman). Broadway Debut. Off-Broadway: The Fantasticks (Luisa). National Tour: Captain Louie (Amy). Regional: Amadeus (Constanze); The Crucible (Abigail); Oklahoma! (Laurey); Yours, Anne (Anne Frank); Cats (Victoria); Camelot (Guenevere), Grease (Rizzo), The Sound of Music (Liesel).
STEPHEN SONDHEIM (Music & Lyrics) one of the most influential and accomplished composer/lyricists in Broadway history, was born in New York City. As a teenager he met Oscar Hammerstein II, who became Sondheim’s mentor. Sondheim graduated from Williams College, where he received the Hutchison Prize for Music Composition. After graduation he studied music theory and composition with Milton Babbitt. He worked for a short time in the 1950’s as a writer for the television show “Topper.” His first professional musical theatre job was as the songwriter for Saturday Night, which had its belated New York premiere in 1999. He wrote the music and lyrics for A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, Anyone Can Whistle, Company, Follies, The Frogs, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd, Sunday In The Park With George, Merrily We Roll Along, Into The Woods, Assassins, Passion and Road Show as well as lyrics for West Side Story, Gypsy, Do I Hear A Waltz? and additional lyrics for Candide. Anthologies of his work include Side By Side by Sondheim, Marry Me A Little, You’re Gonna Love Tomorrow and Putting It Together. For films and television, he composed the scores of Stavisky and Reds, songs for Dick Tracy and Evening Primrose and co-authored the film The Last of Sheila. He is on the Council of the Dramatists Guild, the national association of playwrights, composers and lyricists, having served as its president from 1973 to 1981, and in 1983 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1990 he was appointed the first Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Oxford University. He was also a recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor in 1993.
HUGH WHEELER (Book) won Tony Awards® for Candide, A Little Night Music and Sweeny Todd. He is the author of the plays Big Fish, Little Fish; Look, We’ve Come Through; We Have Always Lived in the Castle; and additional material for Pacific Overtures. His screenplays include Travels With My Aunt, Something for Everyone, A Little Night Music and Nijinsky. He also wrote 30 mysteries under the pseudonyms Patrick Quentin and Q. Patrick. He has written such operas as Kurt Weill’s Silverlake, Mozart’s Impressario and the opera versions of Candide and Sweeney Todd.
TREVOR NUNN (Director). From 1968 to 1986, Nunn was the longest serving Artistic Director and Chief Executive of the RSC. During that time, he directed most of the Shakespeare canon, as well as Nicholas Nickleby (Five Tony Awards®) and Les Misérables, the longest running musical in the world. He recently returned to the RSC to direct King Lear and The Seagull. From 1997 to 2003, he was Director of the National Theatre, where his twenty-one productions included award-winning revivals of Troilus and Cressida, The Merchant of Venice, Summerfolk and The Cherry Orchard, as well as Oklahoma!, My Fair Lady and Anything Goes. He has directed the world premieres of Arcadia, Every Good Boy, The Coast of Utopia and Rock ‘n’ Roll by Tom Stoppard, and of Cats, Starlight Express, Aspects of Love, Sunset Boulevard and The Woman in White by Andrew Lloyd Webber. More recent theatre work includes: Timon of Athens and Skellig (Young Vic), Hamlet and Richard II (Old Vic), The Lady From The Sea (Almeida), The Royal Hunt Of The Sun (National Theatre) and Scenes From A Marriage (Coventry). His opera productions include: Idomeneo, Porgy and Bess, Cosi Fan Tutte and Peter Grimes (Glyndebourne) and Katya Kabanova and Sophie’s Choice (Royal Opera House). Work for television includes “Antony and Cleopatra,” “The Comedy of Errors,” “Macbeth,” “Three Sisters,” “Othello” and “King Lear” and on film, Hedda, Lady Jane and Twelfth Night.
THE VIERTEL, BARUCH, ROUTH, FRANKEL GROUP (Producer) have produced and general managed a wide range of plays and musicals on and off Broadway, in London and on tour for 24 years. Currently: Burn The Floor, Young Frankenstein Tour, Hairspray (London) and Stomp (off-Broadway and on Tour). Previously: The Norman Conquests, Gypsy, Young Frankenstein, The Producers, Sweeney Todd, Company, Little Shop of Horrors, The Weir, The Sound of Music, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Angels in America, Oleanna, Love Letters, Driving Miss Daisy, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Penn & Teller, many others. Upcoming: Leap of Faith with music by Alan Menken. Awarded 36 Tonys, 47 Drama Desk Awards, 38 Outer Critics Awards, four Grammys, eight Olivier Awards and two Pulitzer Prizes. They have the rare distinction of having won Tony Awards in all four “Best” categories – play, musical, play revival and musical revival.
MENIER CHOCOLATE FACTORY (Producer). Having celebrated its 5th birthday in March 2009, the Menier Chocolate Factory is a full time producing theatre. Under the Artistic Direction of David Babani, it has transferred seven productions to the West End, with transfers of its productions of La Cage aux Folles and A Little Night Music planned for Broadway in the next six months, to add to the success of Sunday in the Park with George in 2008. This unique venue, built in 1870 to house a chocolate factory, now comprises an atmospheric restaurant serving pre and post show dinner, bar, rehearsal rooms and theatre. Having maintained the original exposed beams, brick interior and unusual cast iron columns, this is a stimulating environment to experience a high quality theatrical experience.
ROGER BERLIND (Producer) has been producing for over 30 years. Recent productions include Copenhagen; Kiss Me, Kate; Proof; Medea; Anna in the Tropics; Caroline, or Change; Wonderful Town; Doubt; Well; The History Boys; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; Faith Healer; The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial; The Vertical Hour; Deuce; The Year of Magical Thinking; Curtains; Rock ’n’ Roll, Is He Dead?, Gypsy, Equus, 13 and the upcoming Ragtime.
DAVID BABANI (Producer) is Artistic Director of one of London’s most exciting venues, the Menier Chocolate Factory. Currently celebrating its 5th anniversary, productions originated at the Chocolate Factory have received seven Olivier Awards, four Evening Standard awards and nine Tony nominations. Seven of its productions have transferred to the West End and its critically acclaimed production of Sunday in the Park with George played Broadway in 2008. David has also produced Forbidden Broadway (Albery Theatre) and The Donkey Show (Hanover Grand). During his time as Artistic Director of the Jermyn Street Theatre, David produced Simply Barbra, which broke all box office records and transferred to the Playhouse Theatre; and the critically acclaimed UK premiere of Closer Than Ever by Maltby and Shire. In Australia he produced the world premiere of Symphonic Forbidden Broadway and international concerts with Jason Robert Brown, Andrew Lippa and Maltby and Shirem, all at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. David also produced the international hit comedy The English American by Alison Larkin (Soho Theatre), Richard III (Pleasance London), Boom Chicago (Jermyn Street, Soho, Royal Festival Hall) and a hugely successful production of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s Assassins (New End).
ANDREW FELL LTD. (Producer) has produced or co-produced: A Little Night Music (Garrick); Zorro (Garrick), Madame Melville (Vaudeville); Gross Indecency – The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde (Gielgud Theatre); Soul Train (Victoria Palace/tour); Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Playhouse); Marc Salem’s Mind Games (Edinburgh Festival; Hampstead, Tricycle, Shaw and New Ambassadors Theatres). They have general managed: Porgy and Bess (Savoy, dir. Trevor Nunn); The Producers (Drury Lane/Tour, Olivier: Best Musical); Jerry Springer The Opera (UK tour); Romeo & Juliet The Musical (Piccadilly); Taboo (Venue); The Lieutenant of Inishmore (Garrick, Olivier: Best New Comedy); Antarctica (Savoy); the Tony Award®–winning play Side Man (Apollo); Perfect Days (Vaudeville); Show Boat (Prince Edward, dir. Hal Prince).
SONIA FRIEDMAN PRODUCTIONS LTD. (Producer) has initiated and produced more than 90 significant productions since 1991 in the West End and on Broadway. Sonia founded SFP, a subsidiary of the Ambassador Theatre Group, in 2002. Recent West End and Broadway productions include The Norman Conquests, The Seagull, Arcadia, Boeing-Boeing, La Cage aux Folles, Rock ’n’ Roll, Faith Healer, Othello, Prick Up Your Ears, The Mountaintop, A View From the Bridge, Dancing at Lughnasa, No Man’s Land, Endgame, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg and Noises Off. Upcoming: Jerusalem (January 2010). SFP is currently actively developing over 25 major new productions. In 1993, Sonia co-founded Out of Joint Theatre Company, one of Britain’s leading new writing companies.
