Breaking News: Bang, Zoom! THE HONEYMOONERS Musical to Open Old Globe's 2013-14 Season; McGrath to Star & Mitchell to Direct & Choreograph

The Old Globe will open its 2013-14 Season with the world premiere of The Honeymooners, a new musical based on the legendary CBS television series.  2012 Tony Award winner Michael McGrath (Nice Work If You Can Get It) will star as Ralph Kramden, the small-time bus driver with big-time dreams.  Tony Award winner Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots, Legally Blonde) will direct and choreograph the musical comedy, with book by Dusty Kay and Bill Nuss, music by Stephen Weiner and lyrics by Peter Mills.  The complete creative team and casting will be announced at a later date.  The Honeymooners, presented under a license from CBS, will run on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, Sept. 8 – Oct. 27, 2013.  Preview performances run Sept. 8 – 20.  Opening night is Sunday, Sept. 22.  Tickets are currently available by subscription only.  Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.

“It’s a real delight to bring this fun and rollicking new musical comedy to San Diego,” said Old Globe Artistic Director Barry Edelstein.  “I'm happy to see the brilliant Michael McGrath make his Globe debut, and I’m especially pleased to welcome the hugely talented Jerry Mitchell back to this theatre, where he choreographed The Full Monty, Imaginary Friends and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.  As a kid I was a full-blown ‘Honeymooners’ addict, and I ‘bang-zoomed’ away many more hours with the Kramdens and Nortons than I should probably admit.  That's why it's a special joy to see Ralph, Ed, Alice and Trixie come to vivid life on our stage and to introduce these iconic American characters to a new generation.” 

Ralph Kramden and his buddy Ed Norton are back with a whole new scheme in this world premiere musical.  The two friends enter a jingle contest, and much to the shock of their long-suffering wives, they actually win!  Soon they are catapulted out of Brooklyn and into the cutthroat world of Madison Avenue, where they find themselves torn between success and friendship.  Bursting with bouncy tunes and showbiz pizzazz, The Honeymooners will send audiences to the moon!

Brainchild of the legendary American comedian, actor and musician Jackie Gleason, “The Honeymooners” took the world by storm after it was launched as a six-minute sketch on Gleason’s “Cavalcade of Stars” in 1951.  The sketches starred Gleason as Ralph Kramden, an everyman underdog struggling to make a better life for himself and his no-nonsense wife, Alice.  With help from his sewer worker pal, Ed Norton, and his wife, Trixie, Ralph plotted hilarious get-rich-quick schemes, none of which ever succeeded.  Over the next few years, “The Honeymooners” became a television sensation, even beating out “I Love Lucy” as the most-watched show of 1955.  “The Honeymooners” served as the inspiration for the hit cartoon series “The Flintstones” and has since lived on in American popular culture through continuous reruns and references on dozens of TV shows from “The Simpsons” to “Sesame Street.”

Michael McGrath (Ralph Kramden) won the 2012 Tony Award for Featured Actor in a Musical and a Drama Desk Award for Nice Work If You Can Get It.  He has also appeared on Broadway in Born Yesterday, Memphis, Spamalot (Tony and Drama Desk nominations), Is He Dead?, Wonderful Town, Little Me, Swinging on a Star (Theatre World Award, Drama Desk nomination), The Goodbye Girl and My Favorite Year.  His credits with City Center Encores! include Follies, The Boys from Syracuse and Dubarry Was a Lady, and his Off Broadway credits include The Cocoanuts, The Butter and Egg Man, Game Show, Louisiana Purchase and Forbidden Broadway.  McGrath appeared as the side man to Martin Short on “The Martin Short Show” and has been seen in the films The Interpreter, Changing Lanes and Ira & Abby.