A Beautiful Journey... Meet the Full Cast of VIOLET, Beginning Tomorrow on Broadway!

Roundabout Theatre Company's production of VIOLET, starring Sutton Foster, Colin Donnell, Alexander Gemignani and Joshua Henry, begins previews tomorrow, March 28, 2014. VIOLET officially opens on April 20, 2014 at the American Airlines Theatre on Broadway (227 West 42nd Street). Scroll down to learn more about the full company and check out a sneak peek performance and interviews with the cast!

This production is based on the 2013 New York City Center Encores! Off-Center concert production of VIOLET starring Sutton Foster and directed by Leigh Silverman.

The cast also includes Ben Davis, Annie Golden, Emerson Steele, Austin Lesch, Anastasia McCleskey, Charlie Pollock, Jacob Keith Watson, Rema Webb and Virginia Ann Woodruff.

Based on the short story "The Ugliest Pilgrim" by Doris Betts, VIOLET features music by Jeanine Tesori, book & lyrics by Brian Crawley and direction by Leigh Silverman. The creative team includes Jeffrey Page (Choreographer), Joseph Joubert and Buryl Red (Original Orchestrations) and Michael Rafter (Music Director). The design team includes David Zinn (Sets), Clint Ramos (Costumes), Mark Barton (Lights) and Leon Rothenberg (Sound).

VIOLET tells the story of a young woman's quest for beauty amidst the image-obsessed landscape of the 1960s. Facially disfigured in a childhood accident, Violet (Foster) dreams of a miraculous transformation through the power of faith. Convinced that a televangelist in Oklahoma can heal her, she hops a Greyhound bus and starts the journey of a lifetime. Along the way, Violet forms unlikely friendships with her fellow riders, who teach her about beauty, love, courage and what it means to be an outsider.

SUTTON FOSTER
(Violet)

Sutton Foster is an award-winning actor, singer and dancer who has performed in 10 Broadway shows and originated roles in the Broadway productions of The Drowsy Chaperone, Little Women, Young Frankenstein, Shrek the Musical, and her Tony Award-winning performances in Anything Goes and Thoroughly Modern Millie. She was first seen on television on "Star Search" at age 15, and has more recently appeared in "Bunheads" (TV Critics' Choice Award nomination for "Best Actress in a Comedy Series"), "Psych", "Flight of the Conchords", "Law and Order SVU", "Royal Pains", and "Sesame Street". As a solo artist, Sutton has performed all over the country as well as internationally with her musical director Michael Rafter... featuring songs from her debut solo CD "Wish" as well as her follow up CD, "An Evening With Sutton Foster: Live at the Cafe Carlyle." She has graced the stages of Carnegie Hall, Feinstein's, Lincoln Center's American Songbook series, Joe's Pub and many others. In 2011 she received an Honorary Doctorate degree from Ball State University where she also is on faculty as a teacher and advisor to the Department of Theatre and Dance.

Broadway: Anything Goes (Drama Desk nomination), Jersey Boys.National tours: Wicked, Mamma Mia! Other NY credits: Love's Labor's Lost (Shakespeare in the Park); Merrily We Roll Along, Follies (Encores!); Meet Me in St. Louis (Irish Rep); Almost Heaven: Songs of John Denver. Regional: Edward Albee's Me, Myself and I (McCarter); Johnny Baseball(A.R.T.); Working, A Musical (Asolo Rep). Film/TV: Every Secret Thing, "Arrow," "Pan Am."

ALEXANDER GEMIGNANI
(Father)

Broadway: Chicago (Billy Flynn), LES MISERABLES (Valjean, Drama League nomination), Sweeney Todd (Beadle, Drama Desk nomination), Assassins (Hinckley, Theatre World Award), The People In The Picture (Moishe), Sunday in the Park With George (Boatman/Dennis). Off-Broadway: Road Show at the Public (Addison Mizner, Drama League nomination), Headstrong at EST (Nick) and Avenue Q at the Vineyard Theatre (Brian). Favorite Regional: The Three Sisters (Andrei) at Cincinnati Playhouse, The Boys From Syracuse (Sergeant) at The Shakespeare Theatre of D.C. and the title character in the world premiere musical Saint-Ex at The Weston Playhouse. Concerts:Sondheim! The Birthday Concert with The N.Y. Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall, The N.Y. Pops at Carnegie Hall, and The L.A. Philharmonic at The Hollywood Bowl as well several appearances as performer and director in the Broadway ByThe Year series at The Town Hall. TV/Film: Homeland, The Good Wife, Empire State(pilot), Passion(Live From Lincoln Center),South Pacific (Great Performances) and the film The Producers. His solo show,All At Once, premiered at the Kennedy Center as a part of Barbara Cook's Spotlight Series. As a composer/lyricist, Alexander is currently developing three new musicals and also recently composed incidental music for the plays Cadence: Home andswingset/moon. He is a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop and a graduate of the University of Michigan.

Joshua is excited to return to the role of Flick after the City Center Encores production in 2013. A University of Miami (FL) graduate, he is best known for his Tony Nominated performance of Haywood Patterson in The Scottsboro Boys. His other Broadway shows include The Tony Award winning revival of The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Grammy Award winning American Idiot, Grammy/Tony winning In the Heights and Bring It On. Regional theatre: Godspell, The Wiz, The Cotton Club Parade, and Being Alive. TV/Film: "Army Wives,""Kings," Sex and the City.

BEN DAVIS
(Preacher)

Ben was last seen in NYC at BAM in Anna Nicole the Opera. Broadway credits include A Little Night Music (revival), Les Miserables (original and 2006 revival), Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Baz Luhrmann's La Boheme for which he was awarded a Tony Honor. Film credits include The Magic Flute, directed by Kenneth Branagh.

ANNIE GOLDEN
(Ensemble)

Annie considers herself the illegitimate child of the legitimate theatre, having been discovered on the Bowery fronting a rock band and cast by Milos Forman as Jeannie in Hair, the 1978 film. Some Broadway credits include: Xanadu; The Full Monty; Ah! Wilderness and On The Town. Annie also was Sondheim's original Squeaky Fromme in Assassins(Playwrights Horizons). Numerous Film/TV credits: "Law and Order," "L&O SVU," "Cheers," "Third Watch," "MiamiVice," and just completed shooting Season Two for Netflix's "Orange Is The New Black" as Norma Romano.

EMERSON STEELE
(Young Violet)

Emerson is elated to make her Broadway debut. She returns to the role of Young Violet after the New York City Center Encores! Off-Center concert production last year. Emerson has since performed in NYC in the Songs for Story Shifters cabaret and the Broadway Dreams' Fall Showcase. Although she had an early television appearance at age 3 in a Barney commercial and began her love of solo singing in church as a 7 year old, Emerson's passion for musical theater started at age 8. By the time she was 9, Emerson was cast in her first professional theater production and at age 11, she won Miss Access Broadway in the Junior Division for her entries in the triple threat competition. As a native Atlantan, Emerson has played roles in regional professional theaters in A Christmas Carol, Annie, Fiddler on the Roof, The King and I, and Gypsy.

Broadway: Billy Elliot. City Center: Violet. Off-Broadway: Altar Boyz. Graduate of The Boston Conservatory.

ANASTACIA McCLESKEY
(Ensemble)

Anastacia is a renaissance woman from the south, who's also a writer & Abstract Artist. Broadway: Priscilla Queen of the Desert (Diva, Original Broadway Cast),The Book of Mormon (Mrs. Brown), Hair (Abraham Lincoln), & Tarzan (Original Broadway Cast). Performed at Radio City Music Hall, The York Theater, Grand Ole Opry, City Center and has traveled the world singing and acting alongside some of the greats. She will appear in You Make Me Feel Mighty Real, a Sylvester Concert off-Broadway as Izora Rhodes this fall.

CHARLIE POLLOCK
(Ensemble)

Broadway: Urinetown, 9 to 5. Shakespeare in the Park: Love's Labour's Lost. Off-Broadway: Tick, Tick, Boom!; I Love You, You're Perfect... National Tours:Urinetown, The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber. TV: "The Good Wife" (recurring), "As the World Turns," "Law and Order," "The Guiding Light."Education: U.T. Austin.

JACOB KEITH WATSON
(Swing)

Jacob, originally from Arkansas, is making his Broadway debut with Violet. He has performed regionally in everything from Shakespeare to Opera before moving to New York City in May of 2013.

REMA WEBB
(Ensemble)

Rema is a 16 year Broadway veteran. Most recently Rema appeared in NBC's "The Sound of Music Live." Additional movie credits include: The Oksana Baiul Story, Sudden Death, Beloved, and First Born. She has been a cast member of Disney's The Lion King since 1999 and is an original cast member of Broadway's The Book of Mormon. She made her Broadway debut in the 1998 production of Ragtime.

VIRGINIA ANN WOODRUFF
(Swing)

Broadway credits include: The Color Purple, Leap of Faith, All Shook Up and Smokey Joe's Cafe. She is a member of the Broadway Inspirational Voices.

HAVEN BURTON
(Standby role of Violet)

Broadway: Shrek (Gingy, Fiona u/s), Legally Blonde(Margot, Elle u/s), RENT(Maureen, Mrs. C). Off Broadway/national tours: Disaster! (Marianne), Nobody Loves You (stand by), Shrek national tour (Fiona), RENT (Mrs. C). BFA from NYU's Experimental Theatre Wing.

EMMA HOWARD
(u/s Young Violet)

Joining Violet after originating the role of Hortensia in Matildaon Broadway. Over 30 regional credits.

AZUDI ONYEJEKWE
(u/s Flick)

Broadway and Roundabout Debut. Off-Broadway: Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (Kazino, original company). Film: HairBrained. BFA in Drama, NYU Tisch.