Grammy and Emmy Award winner, Tony Award nominee and multi-platinum recording artist Harry Connick, Jr. stars as Dr. Mark Bruckner in the newly imagined production of ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER, which opened December 11, 2011 on Broadway at The St. James Theatre. Broadway Beat was on hand for the opening night party and takes you inside below!
The roles of David Gamble and Melinda Wells will be played, respectively, by David Turner and Jessie Mueller, in her Broadway debut. The delightful Tony-nominated score by Burton Lane (music) and Alan Jay Lerner (lyrics) is enhanced by classics from their film scores for On A Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970) and Royal Wedding (1951). With a new book by Peter Parnell based on the original book by Alan Jay Lerner, the musical is reconceived and directed by Tony Award-winner Michael Mayer, with choreography by JoAnn M. Hunter.
Joining Connick, Turner and Mueller are Kerry O'Malley as Sharone, Drew Gehling as Warren, Sarah Stiles as Muriel, Paul O'Brien, Heather Ayers, Lori Wilner, Benjamin Eakeley, Alex Ellis, KendAl Hartse, Grasan Kingsberry, Tyler Maynard, Zachary Prince, Alysha Umphress, Philip Hoffman, Sean Allan Krill, Patrick O'Neill, and Christianne Tisdale.
Love blooms in unexpected places in the delightfully reimagined world of ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER. Still in love with his deceased wife, Dr. Mark Bruckner (Harry Connick, Jr.), a dashing psychiatrist and professor, unknowingly takes on the case of his life with David Gamble (David Turner), a quirky young florists' assistant. While putting David under hypnosis to help him quit smoking so he can move in with his perfect boyfriend Warren (David Gehling), Dr. Bruckner stumbles upon what he believes to be David's former self - a dazzling and self-possessed 1940's jazz singer Melinda Wells (Jessie Mueller). Instantly intrigued by Melinda, Dr. Bruckner finds himself swept up in the pursuit of an irresistible (and impossible) love affair with this woman from another time and place, who may or may not have ever existed.
ON A CLEAR DAY originally opened on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on October 17, 1965 and starred Barbara Harris as Daisy Gamble/Melinda Wells and John Cullum as Dr. Mark Bruckner, who both received Tony Award Nominations for their performances, as did the score. In 1970 it was adapted into a film directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Barbra Streisand as Daisy/Melinda and Yves Montand as Dr. Mark Bruckner.
