The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today announced Bernadette Peters will star as Sally Durant Plummer in the Kennedy Center production of Follies in the Eisenhower Theater May 7 to June 5, 2011.
Additionally, BroadwayWorld.com has heard that (although maybe not fully signed on the dotted line) starring alongside Peters could be Sex and the City star and Golden Globe winner Kim Cattrall as Phyllis, Danny Burstein as Buddy and John Dossett as Ben, all of whom have been cast.
UPDATE: Although we have confirmed that he indeed was cast as Ben, we have heard from John Dossett's agent that he, at this moment, is "NOT doing Follies", though they were in negotiations as recently as yesterday.
The musical features a book by James Goldman and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and will be directed by Eric Schaeffer with choreography by Warren Carlyle. James Moore will serve as music director and will conduct the 28-piece Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra.
This will be the production to keep eyes on because if it's any good, someone, no doubt, will bring it right to Broadway. The last Broadway revival was not received well critically when produced by Roundabout and, prior to that, the highly acclaimed version which appeared at the The Paper Mill Playhouse was stopped from coming into town due to 'political reasons'. It's Sondheim's year, with the 80th birthday that keeps on giving and this would be the 'icing on the cake' if magic happened on the stage if indeed Schaeffer and his company pull it off.
We are told that additional casting will be announced at a later date.
Currently starring in the Broadway revival of A Little Night Music, Bernadette Peters is the recipient of two Tony Awards®, a Golden Globe, two Grammy Awards® and three Emmy nominations. She received Tony® and Drama Desk Awards for Song and Dance and a second Tony Award® for Annie Get Your Gun. She received Tony® nominations for Gypsy, The Goodbye Girl, Sunday in the Park with George, Mack & Mabel, and On the Town. Other Broadway credits include Into the Woods, La Strada, George M!, Johnny No-Trump, and The Most Happy Fella. In addition to numerous original Broadway cast recordings, Ms. Peters has recorded six solo albums, including the Grammy®-nominated Bernadette Peters Loves Rodgers & Hammerstein; I'll Be Your Baby Tonight and Sondheim Etc: Bernadette Peters Live at Carnegie Hall. Her television credits range from performing arts specials such as PBS' Evening at Pops and The Kennedy Center Honors to appearances in variety shows such as The Carol Burnett Show and an Emmy-nominated performance on The Muppet Show. She appeared in the star-studded Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall and the New York Philharmonic performance of Sondheim: A Birthday Concert, which was filmed for PBS's Great Performances series and will air later this year. She also played an opera diva-on-the-verge-of-a-nervous-breakdown in Terrence McNally's The Last Mile, both for PBS's Great Performances series. Other television credits include the wicked stepmother in Cinderella with Brandy and Whitney Houston, guest-starring roles on ABC's Grey's Anatomy and Ugly Betty, the Lifetime movie Living Proof, PBS's Hey Mr. Producer!: The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh, and FOX's hit TV series Ally McBeal for which she received an Emmy nomination. Among her numerous film credits are Pennies From Heaven (Golden Globe Award), The Jerk, The Longest Yard, Silent Movie, Annie, Pink Cadillac and the soon-to-be-released Coming Up Roses. She added author and songwriter to her roster of achievements with her debut children's book Broadway Barks, a New York Times best seller, and the just-released Stella Is a Star!
