Bobby Steggert, Mara Davi & More to Reprise Roles in MY PARIS at Long Wharf Theatre; Kathleen Marshall Directs

Long Wharf Theatre travels back in time to the romance and fun of Montmartre in the late 1800s in its production of the musical My Paris, a imaginative retelling of the life of the artist Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, directed by Tony Award-winning director Kathleen Marshall, with music from the legendary French performer Charles Aznavour, and a book by Pulitzer Prize-winner Alfred Uhry, and with English lyrics and musical adaptations by Tony-winner Jason Robert Brown (The Last Five Years).

The production runs from May 4 through May 29 on the Claire Tow Stage in the C. Newton Schenck III Theatre. The press night is Wednesday, May 11 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are from $25 to $85.

The cast includes Darius Barnes, Mara Davi, Donna English, Josh Grisetti, Anne Horak, Thomas Hewitt, Timothy Hughes, Jamie Jackson, Nikka Graff Lanzarone, Tiffany Mann, Kate Marilley, Andrew Mueller, John Riddle, Bobby Steggert (as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec), and Erica Sweany.

The creative team includes David Eggers (associate director/associate choreographer), Jason Robert Brown (English lyrics and musical adaptation), David Gardos (music direction), Derek McLane (sets), Paul Tazewell (costumes), Don Holder (lights), Brian Ronan (sound), Olivia Sebesky (projections), and Telsey and Company (casting). Chris Zaccardi is the production stage manager.

My Paris sketches the life and times of the painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Toulouse-Lautrec lovingly rendered the gaiety, color, and heartbreak of Montmartre, the can can, and the world of Le Moulin Rouge. It's the story of a great artist who loved a world that never quite loved him back. "This is a theatrical imagining of the life and times of Toulouse-Lautrec. We want to take people back to that time and place to see the world that inspired his art," said Tony Award-winning director Kathleen Marshall. "He took people who were marginal in the world, their eccentricities, and celebrated them."

Legendary performer Charles Aznavour wrote the music and lyrics. Aznavour's career started in the 1933 and continues to the present day, writing over a 1,000 songs and selling almost 200 million records. "He is truly a national treasure of France," Marshall said.

The book is by Oscar, Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winner Alfred Uhry (Driving Miss Daisy and The Last Night of the Ballyhoo). Uhry is the only American playwright who has been honored with all three major awards. "The creative team is among the most accomplished which we've had the opportunity to work with. I am certain it will be an exciting production," said Artistic Director Gordon Edelstein.

This creative team has plenty to work with in mining the extraordinary life of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, who lived from 1864 to 1901. Lautrec took a previously derided form, the advertising poster, and elevated it to high art. He immersed himself in the seedy vibrancy of the bohemian Montmartre neighborhood in Paris and translated it into some of the most iconic art of a profoundly vital age. "His paintings of dance hall performers and prostitutes are personal and humanistic, revealing the sadness and humor hidden beneath rice powder and gaslights," according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Bobby Steggert, a Tony Award-nominated veteran of four Broadway shows, reprises his role as Lautrec. "Lautrec was not a romantic," Steggert explained in Broadwayworld.com interview. "He portrayed people as they truly were with no frills, yet he often found further beauty in the grotesque. The characters in Montmartre in this stage adaptation come across as such: gritty, human, and honest."

The musical originated at the The Norma Terris Theater in Chester in July 2015. The production is sponsored by Webster Bank and WSHU.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit longwharf.org or call 203-787-4282.