Roundabout Theatre Company will welcome back Emmy, Golden Globe & SAG Award winner and Oscar & Tony Award nominee Alec Baldwin, and Emmy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Anne Heche in a one-night-only reunion benefit reading of Ken Ludwig's adaptation of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's comedy Twentieth Century, reuniting the original stars of Roundabout's 2004 revival with director Walter Bobbie.
Alec Baldwin and Anne Heche have been friends of Roundabout Theatre Company since starring as "Oscar Jaffe" and "Lily Garland" in Twentieth Century (2004) on Broadway. Baldwin later starred as "Ed" in Entertaining Mr. Sloane, Off-Broadway at the Laura Pels Theatre, and serves as on Roundabout's Board of Directors. Walter Bobbie will return to direct this one-night-only special event.
The reading will take place on Monday, April 29 at 7:30pm at Studio 54 (254 West 54th Street). Tickets go on sale Monday, March 4 at 10:00AM.
Bankrupt, with his career on a downslide, egomaniacal Broadway director Oscar Jaffee (Baldwin) boards the Twentieth Century Limited and encounters his former discovery and ex-chorus girl Lily Garland (Heche), now a temperamental Hollywood star. He'll do anything to get her back under contract and back in his bed, but his former prote?ge? will have nothing to do with him. All of the action takes place on board the legendary Twentieth Century train from Chicago to New York City where Oscar has 20 hours to persuade Lily to return to Broadway in his upcoming show. If he fails, it's the end of the line.
Additional cast members and creative team will be announced soon.
Premium, VIP and Benefactor tickets at $500 to $2,500 which include prime seating and an invitation to the exclusive post-show cast party are available at roundabouttheatre.org/20thcentury or by calling Special Events at 212-719-9393 x 369. Standard Tickets ranging from $100-$250 are available at roundabouttheatre.org/20thcentury or by calling Audience Services at (212) 719-1300. All proceeds benefit not-for-profit Roundabout Theatre Company and its many programs.
For information about Underwriter Packages starting at $25,000, please contact Natalie Rohr at 212-719- 9393 x 369 or natalier@roundaboutheatre.org.
Golden Ram Imports is the wine sponsor for the evening.
Alec Baldwin (Oscar Jaffe). Since 1980, Alec Baldwin has appeared in numerous productions on stage, in films and on television. He has received a Tony nomination (A Streetcar Named Desire, 1992) an Oscar nomination (The Cooler, 2004) and has won three Emmy awards, three Golden Globes and seven consecutive Screen Actors Guild Awards as Best Actor in a Comedy Series for his role on NBC-TV's "30 Rock." His films include The Hunt For Red October, Glengarry Glen Ross, Malice, The Edge, It's Complicated, Blue Jasmine, Still Alice, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation and The Boss Baby among many others. Baldwin earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 1994, and received an honorary doctorate from NYU in 2010. He serves on numerous boards related to the arts, the environment and progressive politics including the Hamptons International Film Festival and the New York Philharmonic. He is also the radio announcer for the New York Philharmonic. He has authored three books: A Promise To Ourselves, his memoir entitled Nevertheless and, with Kurt Andersen, the Donald Trump parody You Can't Spell America Without Me. He is the host of a podcast, "Here's The Thing," for WNYC. Baldwin is married to author and wellness expert Hilaria Thomas Baldwin. They have four children: Carmen, Rafael, Leonardo and Romeo, as well as his eldest, Ireland Baldwin. Baldwin hosts ABC's "Match Game," the classic television game show; a portion of his fees are donated to charity through The Hilaria and Alec Baldwin Foundation.
Anne Heche (Lily Garland). Emmy and Tony-nominated Heche can currently be seen as Dep. Superintendent Katherine Brennan on NBC's "Chicago P.D." Additionally, she recently starred as Patricia Campbell on NBC's military drama series "The Brave." She received an Emmy nomination for supporting actress in a miniseries or a movie for "Gracie's Choice." Her other recent TV credits include a starring role in Canadian post-apocalyptic series "Aftermath," and a guest role on "Quantico." She recently wrapped Astute Films' civil rights drama The Best of Enemies, opposite Taraji P. Henson and Sam Rockwell.
Walter Bobbie (Director) directed the New York productions of Bright Star, Venus in Fur, The Landing, Golden Age, School for Lies, Irving Berlin's White Christmas, Chicago, The Submission, The Savannah Disputation, New Jerusalem, High Fidelity, The Other Woman, The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Sweet Charity, Twentieth Century, Footloose, Durang/Durang, For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls, and A Grand Night for Singing. He served as Artistic Director of City Center Encores!, where he has also directed Fiorello!, Chicago, Tenderloin, Golden Boy, No, No, Nanette, and Zorba! Mr. Bobbie is also an actor whose Broadway career spans the original production of Grease through the recent revival of Shaw's Saint Joan. He serves on the Board of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and is the recipient of Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Tony Awards.
Roundabout Theatre Company celebrates the power of theatre by spotlighting classics from the past,
cultivating new works of the present, and educating minds for the future. A not-for-profit company, Roundabout fulfills that mission by producing familiar and lesser-known plays and musicals; discovering and supporting talented playwrights; reducing the barriers that can inhibit theatergoing; collaborating with a diverse team of artists; building educational experiences; and archiving over five decades of production history.
Roundabout Theatre Company presents a variety of plays, musicals and new works on its five stages: Broadway's American Airlines Theatre, Studio 54 and Stephen Sondheim Theatre, and Off-Broadway's Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, which houses the Laura Pels Theatre and Black Box Theatre.
American Airlines is the official airline of Roundabout Theatre Company. Roundabout productions are supported, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
Roundabout 2018-19 Broadway season includes True West by Sam Shepard, directed by James Macdonald, starring Ethan Hawke and Paul Dano; Kiss Me, Kate, directed by Scott Ellis, starring Kelli O'Hara, Will Chase and Corbin Bleu, and Arthur Miller's All My Sons starring Annette Bening, Tracy Letts and Benjamin Walker, directed by Jack O'Brien.
Off-Broadway in 2018-2019, Roundabout's season continues with Merrily We Roll Along by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth, directed by Noah Brody in a Fiasco Theater production; Toni Stone by Lydia R. Diamond, directed by Pam MacKinnon; and Something Clean by Selina Fillinger, directed by Margot Bordelon at Roundabout Underground.
In 2020, Roundabout will present three new works Off-Broadway, including: 72 Miles to Go... by Hilary Bettis; ...what the end will be by Jire?h Breon Holder, directed by Margot Bordelon; and Darling Grenadine, book, music & lyrics by Daniel Zaitchik, directed and choregraphed by Michael Berresse.
Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Brian Bowen Smith
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