Alan Muraoka Joins Cast of Kennedy Center Mame

Alan Muraoka, who appeared in the recent Broadway revival of Pacific Overtures, has been cast as Ito in the star-studded production of Mame, which will open at the Eisenhower Theatre at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. on June 1st after beginning preview on May 27th. The show will run through July 2nd.

The actor will join the previously-announced Christine Baranski in the title role, Harriet Harris as Vera Charles, Max von Essen as older Patrick and Emily Skinner as Agnes Gooch.  Eric Schaeffer, the Helen Hayes Award-winning fixture of D.C.-area musical theatre, will direct the buoyant Jerry Herman musical.

Joining Schaeffer on the creative team will be choreographer Warren Carlyle, set designer Walt Spangler, costume designer Gregg Barnes and lighting designer Ken Billington.

Muraoka has also appeared on Broadway in Mail, Shogun: The Musical, My Favorite Year, The King and I and Miss Saigon. He also appeared for six years on "Sesame Street."
 
The story of a boy's loving but complex relationship with his unconventional aunt, Mame was first adapted by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee from Patrick Dennis' 1955 fictionalized memoir into a hit play starring Rosalind Russell (who also starred in the film version). Lawrence and Lee, with Herman, refashioned the piece into a musical in 1966, and it starred Angela Lansbury. She, Beatrice Arthur and Frankie Michaels all won Tonys, and the show was nominated for five others, including Best Musical. The musical was then turned into another film starring Lucille Ball, and an ill-fated 1983 Broadway revival that also starred Lansbury folded in a little after a month.

Mame will play Tuesday-Sunday evenings at 7:30 PM with matinees on Saturdays and Sundays at 1:30 PM. Tickets, which range from $25 to $90, can be ordered by calling (202) 467-4600 or (800) 444-132. Visit www.kennedy-center.org for more information.