SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, Starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford, to Finish the Hat on Broadway

Ambassador Theatre Group has just announced that the Broadway revival of Sunday in the Park with George, starring Academy Award nominee Jake Gyllenhaal and Tony Award winner Annaleigh Ashford will re-open the historic Hudson Theatre (139-141 West 44th Street) on Broadway this winter for a strictly limited 10-week engagement.

Performances are set to begin Saturday, February 11, 2017, ahead of a Thursday, February 23rd Opening Night, and will play through Sunday, April 23rd. Tickets are now on sale and can be purchased online at www.thehudsonbroadway.com or by calling 855-801-5876.

With music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine, Sunday in the Park with George is directed by Sarna Lapine.

"We are absolutely delighted to be welcoming audiences back to the historic Hudson Theater for the first time in almost 50 years with this musical classic," said Mark Cornell, Ambassador Theatre Group's Chief Executive Officer. "Direct from its acclaimed New York City Center production, Sondheim and Lapine's masterpiece Sunday in the Park with George, starring Jake and Annaleigh, is the perfect inaugural offering for this Broadway treasure box. To be re-opening our most intimate of New York venues with this special work makes me excited about the future of the Hudson."

Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford, who both earned raves for their portrayals, will return to their roles, and will mark the second major Broadway revival of Sondheim and Lapine's Pulitzer Prize-winning musical.

"Opening the historic Hudson Theatre with this magnificent show, for me, is about the possibilities - a blank page, the white canvas, a new era for a theater and the great work to come," said Jeanine Tesori, New York City Center Artistic Advisor and producer of the NYCC concert production. "Together, Jake and Annaleigh broke my heart wide open. I am so happy we will be able to see them on stage again."

Sondheim and Lapine's masterpiece follows painter Georges Seurat (Jake Gyllenhaal) in the months leading up to the completion of his most famous painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. Consumed by his need to "finish the hat," Seurat alienates the French bourgeoisie, spurns his fellow artists, and neglects his lover Dot (Annaleigh Ashford), not realizing that his actions will reverberate over the next 100 years.

Sunday in the Park with George is produced on Broadway by Adam Speers for Ambassador Theatre Group, New York City Center, Jeanine Tesori, and Riva Marker.

Additional information, including casting, will be announced shortly.

Hudson Theatre, which played its last Broadway performance on April 20, 1968, has been undergoing a multi-million dollar project, restoring the landmark venue to its former glory as a Broadway playhouse. The venue is receiving significant front-of-house improvements to better serve its patrons, including all new state-of-the-art seating, Ambassador Lounge premium lounge service, and increased and improved ladies' washrooms. In addition, significant backstage and technical upgrades, including new and expanded dressing rooms and new fly systems will transform the Hudson into a leading legitimate Broadway theater.

About Jake Gyllenhaal. Broadway: Constellations (Drama League Award nom). Off-Broadway: Sunday in the Park with George, Encores! Little Shop of Horrors, If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet (Lucille Lortel and Drama League Award noms). West End: This Is Our Youth (Evening Standard Theatre Award). Films include Nocturnal Animals, Nightcrawler (Golden Globe, BAFTA, and SAG noms), Brokeback Mountain (Academy Award nom and BAFTA award), Southpaw, Prisoners, Demolition, Enemy, Everest, End of Watch, Jarhead, Zodiac, Proof, The Good Girl, Moonlight Mile, Lovely and Amazing, October Sky, Source Code, Love & Other Drugs (Golden Globe nom), Brothers, and Donnie Darko. Upcoming films: Life, Stronger, Okja, and Wildlife.

About Annaleigh Ashford Broadway: Sylvia, You Can't Take It With You (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Awards), Kinky Boots, Wicked, Hair, Legally Blonde. Off Broadway: Sunday in the Park George, Encores!, Rent,Dogfight. TV: Betty on "Masters of Sex," "The Big C," "Law & Order SVU"; "Law & Order," "Nurse Jackie," "Smash", Columbia in FOX's Rocky Horror Picture Show. Film: Sex and the City: The Movie, Rachel Getting Married,Love on the Run, Frozen. Upcoming Film: Unicorn Store.

Situated just off Times Square in New York on 44th Street, between Millennium Broadway Hotel and The Premier Hotel, Hudson Theatre opened on October 19, 1903 with a production of Cousin Kate starring Ethel Barrymore. Built by Henry B. Harris, a famous Broadway producer of that period, the Hudson Theatre is one of New York City's oldest Broadway showplaces. The 100-foot long lobby was the largest ever seen on Broadway at that time. Among the stars that have graced the Hudson's stage are Douglas Fairbanks, William Holden, Helen Hayes, Edward G. Robinson and Dorothy Gish. Barbara Stanwyck and Judith Anderson both made their debuts on its stage. On September 27, 1956, the first nationwide broadcast of "The Tonight Show" starring Steve Allen originated from the Hudson Theatre. It was granted landmark status for both its internal and external features in 1987.

Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) is the world's number one live-theater company with 45 venues in Britain, the United States and Australia, and an internationally recognized award-winning theater producer with productions in the West End and on Broadway and touring productions in the UK, North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. ATG is also the market leader in theater ticketing services through ATG Tickets, LOVETheatre and Group Line. ATG presents an average of 40 productions a year, demonstrating the unique quality and range of ATG Productions in a diverse number of theaters and markets worldwide. ATG has been behind some of the most successful and innovative productions in Britain and internationally, and has subsidiary offices in London, New York, San Antonio, Houston, Sydney, Mannheim and Cologne, Germany.

Hudson Theatre is presented by Ambassador Theatre Group in association with Millennium Hotels and Resorts.

New York City Center (Arlene Shuler, President & CEO) has played a defining role in the cultural life of the city since 1943. This production of Sunday in the Park with George joins previous City Center transfers to Broadway including Chicago, celebrating its twentieth year, and the Tony Award-winning revival of Gypsy starring Patti LuPone. For nearly 25 years, City Center's Tony-honored Encores! series has been "an essential New York institution" (The New York Times). In 2013, City Center launched the Encores! Off-Center series, which features seminal Off-Broadway musicals filtered through the lens of today's innovative artists. Dance has also been integral to City Center's mission from the start and programs like the annual Fall for Dance Festival remain central to the theater's identity. Home to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, and a roster of renowned national and international companies, New York City Center was Manhattan's first performing arts center, founded with the mission of making the best in music, theater, and dance accessible to all audiences. That mission continues today through City Center's robust education and community engagement programs, which bring the performing arts to over 9,000 New York City students each year.

Photo Credit: Stephanie Berger