The Manhattan Theatre Club (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grove, Executive Producer) world premiere production of Nick Whitby's 'To Be or Not To Be' officially opens on Broadway tonight, Tuesday October 14th.
The play, based on the 1942 motion picture of the same name is directed by three-time Tony Award nominee Casey Nicholaw ('The Drowsy Chaperone,' 'Monty Python's Spamalot').
The production features Peter Benson ('The Pajama Game'), Robert Dorfman ('The Drowsy Chaperone'), Steve Kazee ('Monty Python's Spamalot'), Tony Award nominee and Drama Desk Award winner Jan Maxwell ('Coram Boy,' 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'), Peter Maloney ('Almost An Evening,' 'Dinner At Eight'), Michael McCarty ('Mary Poppins'), two-time Obie Award winner Kristine Nielsen ('Les Liaisons Dangereuses,' MTC's 'Our Leading Lady'), Brandon Perler (Broadway debut), David Rasche ('Burn After Reading,' MTC's 'Regret's Only') Rocco Sisto ('Iphigenia 2.0'), Jimmy Smagula ('Damn Yankees' at Encores!), and Marina Squerciati (MTC's 'Beauty of the Father').
'To Be or Not To Be' is the first production of Manhattan Theatre Club's 2008-2009 season. The limited engagement is playing at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street).
At the Polski Theatre in 1939 Warsaw, Josef (David Rasche) and Maria Tura (Jan Maxwell) are about to open yet another smash with their theatrical troupe. As the German invasion gets underway, the theatre is closed by the censors, forcing the troupe to face desperate times. But when a handsome young bomber pilot enlists their help to catch a spy, what is a group of actors to do? This hilarious black comedy is an ingenious commentary on the World War II era and an inspired tribute to the timeless joys of the theatre.
