Benjamin Walker, Amanda Seyfried, Shuler Hensley Lead BUS STOP Reading Next Month; Is Broadway Next?

Michael Reidel reports in the New York Post this morning that Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson star Benjamin Walker will be back in the New York theater loop when he leads a reading of Bus Stop next month as cowboy Bo Decker. Amanda Seyfried will co-star alongside Walker as Cherie. Shuler Hensley will also participate. Hollywood's Paula Wagner, who owns the rights to the project will produce. Scott Ellis directs. A revival of Bus Stop is reportedly bound for Broadway.

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William Inge's Bus Stop is a 1955 play set in a diner in rural Kansas, about 20 miles west of Kansas City, Missouri during a snowstorm from which bus passengers must take shelter. A freak snowstorm has halted the progress of the bus, and the eight characters (five on the bus) have a weather-enforced layover in the diner from approximately 1 to 5 a.m. Romantic and quasi-romantic relationships ensue between several of the characters, including Cherie and Bo. 

Bus Stop opened on March 2, 1955 and closed on April 21, 1956, running for a total of 478 performances. The opening night cast starred Albert Salmi as Bo and Kim Stanley as Cherie and was directed by Harold Clurman.

The play was nominated for four Tony Awards in 1956 when it premiered on Broadway, including Best Play, Best Featured Actress in a Play (Elaine Stritch); Best Scenic Design (Boris Aronson); and Best Director (Harold Clurman).

In 1996 there was a short-lived revival of the play that ran for 29 performances starring Mary Louis Parker and Billy Crudup.

Benjamin Walker, who wed Mamie Gummer this weekend, will next be seen on the big screen as the title character in 20th Century Fox's Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. On stage, Walker portrayed Bertram Cates in the Broadway revival of Inherit the Wind (2007) opposite two-time Tony Award winners Christopher Plummer and Brian Dennehy, and Tony Award winner Denis O'Hare, under the direction of Doug Hughes. In April 2008, Walker appeared as the Chevalier Danceny in the Roundabout Theatre Company's production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses directed by Rufus Norris. Walker's other theater credits include The Arrangements at the Atlantic Theatre Company (NYC - 2005), the Lincoln Center Theatre workshop of Spring Awakening (NYC - 2005), Lady Windermere's Fan (Williamstown Theatre Festival - 2005), and Romeo and Juliet (Williamstown Theatre Festival - 2006).

Amanda Seyfried starred as Sophie in the film version of Mamma Mia! alongside Meryl Streep. In 2004, Seyfried made her film debut in Mean Girls playing Karen Smith, the ditziest of the so-called "Plastics". Her subsequent roles as a supporting character were in independent films like Nine Lives (2005) and Alpha Dog (2006). She also had a recurring role in the UPN TV show Veronica Mars (2004-2006). Between 2006 and 2010, she landed a lead role on HBO's popular television series Big Love. Other recent appearances include successful leading roles in Jennifer's Body (2009), Chloe (2010), Dear John (2010), Letters to Juliet (2010), and Red Riding Hood (2011).

Shuler Hensley's stage career began in the early 1990s with roles in On the Town, The Most Happy Fella, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. In addition to an early Oklahoma! casting as Jud Fry at the North Shore Music Theatre, Boston, Shuler also played Curly at the Skylight Opera Theatre, Milwaukee. In 1998, he played Jud Fry for London's National Theatre production of Oklahoma!, a performance that won him the Olivier Award upon the production's run in the West End and a Tony Award when the show moved to Broadwat in the 2002-2003 season. Hensley was most recently seen in the Broadway production of Young Frankenstein as the Monster. He recently reprised the role in the United States national tour which also features his former co-stars Roger Bart and Cory English.

 

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos