Raúl Esparza, Edward Hibbert, Jeff Blumenkrantz and John Ellison Conlee will join Donna Murphy and Sutton Foster in Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents' Anyone Can Whistle, the final New York City Center Encores! production of the 2009-2010 season. Anyone Can Whistle, running for five performances April 8 - 11, will be directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw with musical direction by Rob Berman.
Anyone Can Whistle opened on April 4, 1964 at the Majestic Theatre and closed after only nine performances. Directed by Arthur Laurents and starring Angela Lansbury, Lee Remick and Harry Guardino, the experimental satire took aim at every target on the American cultural scene of the moment-conformity, psychology, race relations, greed, religion and politics. It divided the critics, thrilled the emerging counter-culture, baffled the masses, and became an instant legend-one that has grown over the years along with Sondheim's reputation. The title song and "With So Little to Be Sure Of" have survived as cabaret classics, but the rarely heard complete score is a riot of jazzy, show-biz razzmatazz, waltzes, gospel numbers and Broadway pastiche, as full of variety and surprise as the show that gave birth to it.
The cast (as of March 17) includes Jeff Blumenkrantz, John Ellison Conlee, Raúl Esparza, Sutton Foster, Edward Hibbert and Donna Murphy, with Clyde Alves, Tanya Birl, Holly Ann Butler, J. Austin Eyer, Sara Ford, Lisa Gajda, Stephanie Gibson, Linda Griffin, Karen Hyland, Natalie King, Grasan Kingsberry, Max Kumangai, Michael Marcotte, Joseph Medeiros, Denny Paschall, Monica L. Patton, Steve Schepis, Eric Sciotto, Tally Sessions, Brian Shepard, Dana Steingold, Brandon Tyler, Anthony Wayne and Patrick Wetzel.
Jeff Blumenkrantz (Treasurer Cooley) has appeared on Broadway in A Class Act, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Damn Yankees, 3 Penny Opera and Into the Woods. He was nominated for a Tony Award for his contribution to the score of Urban Cowboy.
