Previews for Born Yesterday, starring Jim Belushi, Robert Sean Leonard and Nina Arianda, start tonight, March 31, at Broadway's Cort Theatre (138 West 48th Street) at 8 pm. Directed by Doug Hughes, this revival of Garson Kanin's award-winning comedy about sex and politics will open on Easter Sunday, April 24.
Emmy Award nominee
Jim Belushi ("According to Jim," "The Defenders"), Tony Award winner
Robert Sean Leonard (Best Featured Actor for The Invention of Love), and Outer Critics' Circle nominee
Nina Arianda ("A breakout performance-one of the highlights of the year" Charles Isherwood, The New York Times for Venus in Fur) head the cast in Born Yesterday. Tony Award-winner
Doug Hughes (Doubt) directs this timeless and timely story of a not-so-honest businessman and a not-so-dumb blonde out to "capitalize" on everything Washington has to offer.
Rounding out the cast of Born Yesterday are
Frank Wood (Tony winner for Sideman),
Terry Beaver (Tony nominee for The Last Night of Ballyhoo),
Patricia Hodges (A Man for All Seasons),
Michael McGrath (Tony nominee for Spamalot),
Fred Arsenault,
Bill Christ,
Jennifer Regan,
Liv Rooth,
Danny Rutigliano,
Andrew Weems, and
Robert Emmet Lunney.
Born Yesterday had its New York premiere on February 4, 1946 at Broadway's Lyceum Theatre, starring
Paul Douglas,
Judy Holliday, and
Gary Merrill, and produced by
Max Gordon. It became an instant hit, ran for 1,642 performances (moving to the
Henry Miller's Theatre), and remains the seventh longest running play in Broadway history. The play was adapted to the screen in 1950 with
Judy Holliday winning an Academy Award for repeating her stage triumph, this time alongside
Broderick Crawford and
William Holden with
George Cukor directing. Born Yesterday was revived on Broadway in 1989, starring
Ed Asner and
Madeline Kahn, and ran for five months, following a national tour.
Jim Belushi has performed on Broadway in
Herb Gardner's acclaimed Conversations with My Father and for
Joseph Papp as the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance (following a run in the production's national tour). Off-Broadway he starred in
Sam Shepard's True West, and he also starred in the
Williamstown Theatre Festival production of
John Guare's Moon Over Miami. Mr. Belushi began his career as a resident member of Chicago's famed Second City improv troupe from 1976-80. He moved to Los Angeles television when writer-producer
Garry Marshall cast him in the Paramount Television series "Who's Watching the Kids?" and later in "Working Stiffs" with
Michael Keaton. For eight seasons (2001-2009) Belushi was the star and executive producer of the ABC hit comedy, "According to Jim." His other television credits as an actor and writer are "Saturday Night Live," "Parallel Lives," the
Oliver Stone/ABC miniseries "Wild Palms," the movies "Sahara" and "Who Killed Atlanta's Children?" for Showtime, and the critically acclaimed series "Beggars and Choosers." He currently stars in the CBS series "The Defenders." His film credits include Edward Zwick's About Last Night in which he reprised the role he had played on stage in
David Mamet's Obie Award-winning Sexual Perversity in Chicago from which the film is adapted; Salvador; Return to Me; Underdog; Homer and Eddie; The Principal; Joe Somebody; the K-9 franchise; Red Heat; Curly Sue; Taking Care of Business; Once Upon a Crime; Mr. Destiny; Only the Lonely;
Michael Mann's Thief; The Man with One Red Shoe; Real Men; Jumpin' Jack Flash; Jingle All the Way; Retroactive; and Gang Related.
Robert Sean Leonard won a 2001 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor for his performance in the
Lincoln Center Theater production of The Invention of Love. In 2003, he was nominated in the same category for his performance in Long Day's Journey into Night, which also starred
Vanessa Redgrave,
Brian Dennehy, and
Philip Seymour Hoffman. He was most recently seen on stage in The Violet Hour at
Manhattan Theater Club.
Mr. Leonard's extensive theater credits include the Broadway productions of The Music Man; The Iceman Cometh (with
Kevin Spacey); Arcadia;Candida (at Roundabout, for which he received a Tony nomination); Philadelphia, Here I Come; The Speed of Darkness; Breaking the Code; and Brighton Beach Memoirs. Off-Broadway credits include Fifth of July; You Never Can Tell; and When She Danced. He appeared also in the West End production of Our Town. In 2001,
Leonard Starred in Richard Linklater's film Tape with
Ethan Hawke and
Uma Thurman, and was in the ensemble drama Chelsea Walls, directed by Hawke and based on the play of the same name. Born in New Jersey, Leonard began acting at age 14 at
The Public Theater. He made his film debut at 19 in the acclaimed Dead Poets Society, starring opposite
Robin Williams and Hawke. His film credits include Much Ado About Nothing, The Age of Innocence, Mr. & Mrs. Bridge, Swing Kids, and Whit Stillman'sThe Last Days of Disco. Since 2004
Mr. Leonard has played the role of Dr.
James Wilson on the hit Fox medical drama "House."
Nina Arianda received the
Clarence Derwent and
Theatre World awards as well as Outer Critics' Circle and
Lucille Lortel award nominations for her acclaimed performance in the off-Broadway play Venus in Fur. Her film credits include
Vera Farmiga's Higher Ground, William Vincent, and several upcoming projects:
Tom McCarthy's Win Win,
Brett Ratner's Tower Heist, and
Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris. She received an MFA from New York University's graduate acting program.
Garson Kanin (1912-1999) was an esteemed theater and film director as well as a prolific writer. Kanin was trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and made his debut in theater as an actor. He quickly adapted to the role of stage director with help from his mentor
George Abbott, and soon became a director for RKO. His early films include A Man to Remember and My Favorite Wife. While serving in the military during World War II, he co-directed with
Carol Reed the documentary The True Glory which won an Academy Award in 1945. He followed this success by writing and directing Born Yesterday. Over the next four decades he wrote 20 plays, including Peccadillo, Remembering Mr. Maugham, The Rat Race, and The Smile of the World. He also wrote the English libretto of Fledermaus, for the Metropolitan Opera. With
Ruth Gordon, whom he married in 1942, he wrote the Academy-Award nominated screenplays A Double Life, Adam's Rib, and Pat and Mike. He continued to write and direct for stage and screen, notably directing the premiere of Frances and
Albert Hackett's adaptation of The Diary of
Anne Frank. Kanin was also a novelist and memoirist. His books include Smash, Hollywood, and Tracy and Hepburn.
Ruth Gordon died in 1985, and Kanin married
Marian Seldes in 1990. He died at his home in New York in 1999.
Doug Hughes's Broadway credits are Mrs. Warren's Profession, Oleanna, The Royal Family, A Man for All Seasons, Mauritius, Inherit the Wind, A Touch of the Poet, A Naked Girl on the Appian Way, Doubt, and Frozen. Off-Broadway credits include The Whipping Man, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Farragut North,
Howard Katz, The House in Town, Defiance, The Paris Letter, Doubt, Last Easter, Engaged, Frozen, The Beard of Avon, Flesh and Blood, Wit, A Question of Mercy, Henry V,The Grey Zone, and The Nice and the Nasty. He is the recipient of Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics' Circle,
Lucille Lortel, Obie, and Callaway Awards.
The scenic design for Born Yesterday is by
John Lee Beatty; costume design is by
Catherine Zuber; lighting design is by
Peter Kaczorowski; original music/sound design is by
David Van Tieghem; hair/wig design is by
Tom Watson; casting is by
Jay Binder; fight direction is by
J. David Brimmer; production stage manager is
Tripp Phillips.
The preview performance schedule for Born Yesterday is Tuesday through Saturday at 8pm; Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm; Sunday at 3pm. Beginning Tuesday, April 26 the performance schedule is Tuesday at 7pm; Wednesday through Saturday at 8pm; Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm; Sunday at 3pm.
(There is no performance on Friday, April 8; Thursday, June 16; and Friday, June 17; and there will be added performances on Sunday, April 10 at 7:30pm; Monday, June 13 at 8pm; and Sunday, June 19 at 7:30pm. The performance on Sunday, June 12 will be at 2pm.)
Tickets are $26.50 - $121.50 and may be purchased by visiting http://www.telecharge.com or by phoning 212 239 6200 or 800 432 7250.
For more information about Born Yesterday, visit
http://www.bornyesterdayonbroadway.com/.
