Brent Barrett, Robert Petkoff, Caroline O'Connor & More Set for Chicago FOLLIES

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) announced today casting for its 25th Anniversary Season opening production of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman's Follies, featuring a company of more than 40 actors and musicians that includes Olivier Award nominees Brent Barrett as Benjamin Stone and Caroline O'Connor as Phyllis Rogers Stone, with Robert Petkoff as Buddy Plummer and Susan Moniz as Sally Durant Plummer. Performing the role of Carlotta Campion is Chicago musical theater favorite Hollis Resnik. CST Associate Artistic Director Gary Griffin (Broadway's The Color Purple) continues the Theater's decade-long exploration of the Sondheim canon following his Laurence Olivier Award-winning CST production of Pacific Overtures at London's Donmar Warehouse and CST productions of A Little Night Music, Sunday in the Park with George and Passion.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater's limited five-week engagement of Follies runs October 4 through November 6, 2011, in CST's Courtyard Theater. Tickets are on sale now for $44-$75 with special discounts available for groups of 10 or more. All patrons receive a 40% discount on guaranteed parking in Navy Pier garages. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Chicago Shakespeare Theater's Box Office at 312.595.5600 or visit the Theater's website at www.chicagoshakes.com.

Broadway regular Brent Barrett starred in the London premiere of the Tony Award-winning revival  of Kiss Me, Kate (Olivier Award nomination) and has also performed the roles of Billy Flynn in Chicago (LA Drama Critics Award) and Baron Felix Von Gaigern in Grand Hotel. Caroline O'Connor, who recently completed a critically acclaimed turn as Mrs. Lovett in Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, was Olivier Award-nominated for both her starring role in Mack & Mabel in London's West End and her one-woman play Bombshells (Fringe First Award, Edinburgh Festival Fringe). O'Connor made her Broadway debut as Velma Kelly in Chicago and her film work includes the featured role of Nini Legs In The Air in Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge! Robert Petkoff returns to Chicago Shakespeare after an award-winning turn as George in Gary Griffin's production of Sunday in the Park with George, and has also played the title roles in CST productions of Hamlet and Troilus and Cressida. His Broadway credits include Fiddler on the Roof, Spamalot and Ragtime, and he appeared in The Royal Family in London's West End under the direction of Sir Peter Hall. Chicago musical theater actor Susan Moniz, who last appeared at CST in The Merchant of Venice, performed on Broadway as both Sandy and Rizzo in Grease, and has also performed the iconic roles of Maria in West Side Story and Julie Jordan in Carousel.

Both the grandeur of Follies' setting and the intimacy of its story are uniquely revealed within Chicago Shakespeare's 500-seat Courtyard Theater. In this dynamic space, a thrust stage brings audience members into the heart of James Goldman's narrative of relationships, while the splendor of show business is brought to dazzling life with a 29-member company of actors and a 12-piece orchestra performing Stephen Sondheim's original score. On the eve of a crumbling theater's demolition, members of the legendary "Weismann Follies" company reunite to relive their moments in the spotlight, and two couples-Ben and Phyllis, Buddy and Sally-struggle to reconcile the ghostly illusions of their pasts with the painful realities of the present. Follies' 1971 premiere garnered seven Tony Awards, including Best Score, and engendered the classic standards "I'm Still Here," "Losing My Mind" and "Broadway Baby."

Performing "I'm Still Here" in the role of Carlotta Campion is eight-time Jeff Award winner and Chicago musical theater favorite Hollis Resnik, who recently garnered a Helen Hayes Award for her turn in Candide and has appeared in the national tours of Les Miserables, Thoroughly Modern Millie and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Chicago Shakespeare veteran actor Mike Nussbaum, performing the role of Dmitri Weismann, appeared in the original productions of David Mamet's American Buffalo and Glengarry Glen Ross (Chicago and on Broadway). Additional actors returning to CST for Griffin's production are Nancy Voigts as Stella Deems, Marilynn Bogetich, as Hattie Walker and Kathy Taylor as Solange LaFitte. Chicago husband and wife duo Dennis Kelly and Ami Silvestre perform the roles of Theodore and Emily Whitman. The cast for Follies also includes Bill Chamberlain as Roscoe and ensemble members Adrian Aguilar, Jen Donohoo, Jenny Guse, Amanda Kroiss and Christina Myers.

CST Associate Artistic Director Gary Griffin is a prolific director of acclaimed productions, including the Tony Award-nominated The Color Purple and The Apple Tree. Griffin's celebrated Chicago Shakespeare production of Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures was subsequently mounted at the Donmar Warehouse in London's West End, where it garnered three Laurence Olivier Awards, including Outstanding Musical Production. Off Broadway, Griffin directed the world premiere musical Saved (Playwrights Horizons), A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Encores!), Beautiful Thing (Cherry Lane Theatre) and Lost in the Stars (Encores!), among others. At the Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada, Griffin staged critically acclaimed productions of West Side Story, Evita and Camelot, and will return to direct the Festival's 2012 production of 42nd Street. Griffin also directed The Merry Widow and last season's The Mikado at Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Griffin's creative team for Follies includes Music Director Brad Haak, Scenic Designer Kevin Depinet, Costume Designer Virgil Johnson, Lighting Designer Christine Binder, Choreographer Alex Sanchez, Sound Designers Joshua Horvath and Ray Nardelli, Wig and Makeup Designer Melissa Veal and Properties Master Chelsea Meyers.