Casting Announced for New Production of 'A Chorus Line'

Casting has been announced for the new production of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning musical, A CHORUS LINE. The pre-Broadway engagement of A CHORUS LINE will play July 23 through September 2 at San Francisco's Curran Theatre (445 Geary Street). A CHORUS LINE is presented as part of the 2005-2006 Best of Broadway season, brought to you by Citibank, under the direction of Carole Shorenstein Hays.
Tickets will go on sale Sunday, May 7.

The company will feature Ken Alan (Bobby), Brad Anderson (Don), Michael Berresse (Zach), Natalie Cortez (Diana), Charlotte d'Amboise (Cassie), Mara Davi (Maggie), Jessica Lee Goldyn (Val), Deidre Goodwin (Sheila), Tyler Hanes (Larry), James T. Lane (Richie), Paul McGill (Mark), Heather Parcelles (Judy), Michael Paternostro (Greg), Alisan Porter (Bebe), Jeffrey Schecter (Mike), Yuka Takara (Connie), Jason Tam (Paul), Chryssie Whitehead (Kristine) and Tony Yazbeck (Al).

A CHORUS LINE showcases a group of working dancers auditioning for a Broadway musical while revealing their individual stories, personal joys and disappointments. Frank Rich, former theater critic for the New York Times made this observation about the show's relevance: "For a generation of theater people and theatergoers, A CHORUS LINE was and is the touchstone that defines the glittering promise, more often realized in legend than in reality, of the Broadway theater."

Equally significant to the stories played out onstage, is how those stories evolved into a show that became one of the longest running musicals in Broadway history. A CHORUS LINE is the first major Broadway musical to be born out of a workshop process and would go on to set the stage for new models of developing musicals. A CHORUS LINE also revolutionized the traditional book style of Broadway musicals. Weaving together and overlapping the dancers' stories, melding direction and choreography to tell these stories and incorporating cinematic elements of staging became signatures of Michael Bennett's ground-breaking new style that would change Broadway musicals forever.

BIOGRAPHIES

Michael Bennett (Conception, Original Director/Choreographer) choreographed Promises, Promises; Coco; Company; Follies (which he co-directed with Harold Prince) and Seesaw (which he also wrote and directed). In 1973 he made his debut as a dramatic director with Twigs, which starred Sada Thompson. A Chorus Line, which he conceived, choreographed and directed, won nine Tony Awards. In 1976 he and the other authors of A Chorus Line were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for drama. In 1979 he produced, directed and choreographed Ballroom, which was nominated for eight Tony Awards and won Mr. Bennett his sixth Tony. He won his seventh Tony Award for 1981's Dreamgirls, and directed its acclaimed 1985 Broadway revival. The film adaptation of Dreamgirls will be released in December 2006.

BOB AVIAN (Director and Original Choreographer) began his career as a dancer and was in more than a dozen Broadway shows including West Side Story and Funny Girl. He then became an integral part of every Michael Bennett production for the next 20 years, working as associate choreographer and/or assistant director on productions including Company, Follies, Twigs, Seesaw and God's Favorite. In 1976 he received a Tony Award as co-choreographer of A Chorus Line. He then went on to win his second Tony Award for choreographing Ballroom as well as serving as co-producer. He was also a producer of the original and national companies of Dreamgirls, the highly acclaimed musical which won six Tony Awards. He choreographed the London production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies and then created the musical staging for Miss Saigon. He did the musical staging for the London and Broadway productions of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard, receiving his sixth Tony nomination. Next came the Boublil & Schonberg musical Martin Guerre for which he won the Olivier Award for choreography. Bob also choreographed Stephen Sondheim's Putting It Together off-Broadway starring Julie Andrews and on Broadway starring Carol Burnett. Returning once again to London, he choreographed The Witches of Eastwick for Cameron Mackintosh.

JAMES KIRKWOOD (Book) was born in California to theatrical parents. His mother was actress Lila Lee, a leading lady in over 90 films, making the transition from silents to talkies and his father, James Kirkwood, Sr., acted on the stage and in pictures and also directed films including many with Mary Pickford. Before taking up a writing career Mr. Kirkwood was one half of the comedy team Jim Kirkwood and Lee Goodman. They played engagements in New York and London as well as making regular appearance on "The Garry Moore Show, " "The Ed Sullivan Show," and had a radio show on WOR for several years. In addition to numerous television appearances, Mr. Kirkwood appeared on the late CBS-TV daytime soap Valiant Lady for four years. He was also featured on Broadway in Small Wonder and played opposite Tallulah Bankhead in Welcome Darlings. Mr. Kirkwood's novels include There Must Be a Pony! which he dramatized for the stage starring Myrna Loy, and the made-for-TV movie version starring Elizabeth Taylor and Robert Wagner; Good Times/Bad Times; P.S. Your Cat is Dead! which was also adapted for the stage with Keir Dullea and Tony Musante and made into a motion picture by Steve Guttenberg; Some Kind of Hero, which was made into a motion picture starring Richard Pryor; and Hit Me With A Rainbow. In addition, he wrote a nonfiction book, American Grotesque. As co-author with Nicholas Dante of A Chorus Line, he won a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award, among other honors. His play U.T.B.U. (Unhealthy to be Unpleasant) starred Tony Randall, Thelma Ritter and Alan Webb on Broadway. His last non-fiction book, Diary of a Mad Playwright: Perilous Adventures on the Road with Mary Martin and Carol Channing was about the road tour of his play Legends which is currently on tour starring Joan Collins and Linda Evans. Mr. Kirkwood was nearly finished with the first draft of a new novel, I Teach Flying, when he passed away in 1989.

Nicholas Dante (Book) Real name: Conrado Morales. He danced in the choruses of Applause and other Broadway shows as well as various TV shows and nightclubs while pursuing his dream of becoming a writer when Michael Bennett, a friend, called and asked him to collaborate on the first draft of the book for A Chorus Line. The final result earned him a Pulitzer Prize, a Tony Award and many other honors. He also authored a screenplay, Fake Lady, and a musical based on the life of Al Jolson entitled Jolson Tonite.

MARVIN HAMLISCH (Music) is the composer of the Broadway musicals They're Playing Our Song and Sweet Smell of Success and shared the Pulitzer Prize for his score of A Chorus Line. He is the composer of more than 40 motion picture scores including his Oscar-winning score and song for The Way We Were and his adaptation of Scott Joplin's music for The Sting, for which he received a third Oscar. Hamlisch holds the position of principal pops conductor with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC. Mr. Hamlisch is a graduate of both the Juilliard School of Music and Queens College.

EDWARD KLEBAN (1939-1987) (Lyrics) won the 1975 Tony, Drama Desk and Olivier Awards and The Pulitzer Prize for his lyrics for A Chorus Line. Joseph Papp produced a workshop of his musical, Gallery, at The Public Theatre in 1980. He wrote lyrics for songs included in the movies The Hindenberg (music by David Shire) and Brighton Beach Memoirs (music by Michael Small), and music and lyrics for the song "Let's Hear It For Babies", sung by Mel Brooks, in the acclaimed television special "Free To Be You And Me." Mr. Kleban was a member of Lehman Engel's BMI Musical Theatre Workshop for over twenty years. During the 1960's, Mr. Kleban was a record producer at Columbia Records, where he produced many original cast albums including Hallelujah, Baby! and Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris. He was a graduate of The High School of Music and Art and Columbia College, where he wrote music for the 1960 Varsity Show with a book by Terrence McNally. He died in 1987 at the age of 48. The musical, A Class Act, produced on Broadway in 2001, is a musical biography that tells his life story with a score comprised of Kleban's own music and lyrics. Mr. Kleban posthumously won an Obie for his score for A Class Act, and he was nominated for a Tony and A Drama Desk Award. The Kleban Foundation, created according to his Will, awards grants to aspiring theater lyricists and bookwriters, so that they may carry on the tradition of the American musical theatre which he loved so dearly. Over the past 18 years, The Kleban Foundation has awarded grants totaling more than one million dollars.

BAAYORK LEE (Choreography Re-Staging). Directing credits include: The King & I (2004-5 tour), R&H's Cinderella at NY City Opera, Barnum for Cy Coleman in Sydney, Australia, Porgy and Bess and Jesus Christ Superstar's European Tours. The Kennedy Center's Carmen Jones (Vanessa Williams) conducted by Placido Domingo, Gypsy (Signature Theater-Arlington, Virginia) and William Finn's A New Brain. She was Associate Director for Barbara Cook: A Broadway Evening. Credits as resident choreographer for the Washington Opera at the Kennedy Center include the World Premiere of Goya (Placido Domingo) and Sly (Jose Carreras), as well as The Merry Widow, Eugene Onegin, Amahl and the Night Visitors, The Pearl Fishers, La Rondine, Christopher Columbus, and The Ballad of Baby Doe. Opera credits include: Aida (Michigan Opera), La Gioconda (Baltimore Opera), Spring Parade (Trieste Festival, Italy) The Nose and The Cunning Little Vixen (Spoleto Festival, Italy). For the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., Baayork has choreographed Damn Yankees, Camelot, Coconuts, Animal Crackers (Helen Hayes Nomination) and South Pacific (Helen Hayes Nomination). In Italy, she choreographed La Cage Aux Folles, Cabaret, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Singin' in the Rain. An original cast member in a dozen Broadway shows, Baayork created the role of Connie in A Chorus Line. She was Associate Choreographer for Tommy Tune's My One and Only and Assistant Choreographer for Michael Bennett and has directed over 35 companies of A Chorus Line. Ms. Lee is the co-author of On the Line: The Creation of A Chorus Line published by William Morrow. She is proud to be the recipient of the 2003 Lifetime Achievement Asian Woman Warrior Award from Columbia College in Chicago.

ROBIN WAGNER (Scenic Design). Broadway includes The Producers, On the Twentieth Century, City of Angels (all Tony Awards), Kiss Me Kate, Jelly's Last Jam, Dreamgirls, Jesus Christ Superstar (Tony nomination), The Boy From Oz; Flower Drum Song; Sideshow; Angels in America; Victor/Victoria; Crazy for You; Jerome Robbins' Broadway; 42nd Street; A Chorus Line; Lenny; Chess; The Great White Hope; Promises, Promises; Hair. Ballet and opera include productions at the Royal Opera House, the Metropolitan Opera House, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Vienna State Opera, Royal Swedish Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Gotenberg Opera, American Ballet Theatre and the New York City Ballet. He is a trustee of the New York Shakespeare Festival and a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

THEONI V. ALDREDGE (Costume Design). With over 150 Broadway shows to her credit, and numerous more Off-Broadway productions, ballets and operas, Ms. Aldredge was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 1986. Among her many theatre credits include Sweet Bird of Youth, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Anyone Can Whistle, A Chorus Line, The Threepenny Opera, Annie (Tony Award), Barnum (Tony Award), 42nd Street, Dreamgirls, La Cage aux Folles (Tony Award) and Gypsy. Film credits include The Mirror Has Two Faces, The First Wives Club, Addams Family Values, Moonstruck, Network, The Rose and The Great Gatsby, for which she won the Academy Award and the BAFTA Award. She is the recipient of the New York City Liberty Medal and was honored with the Costume Guild Career Achievement Award. For over 20 years, Ms. Aldredge was the principal designer for NYSF. She is married to actor Tom Aldredge.

NATASHA KATZ (Lighting Design) has designed extensively on Broadway, Off-Broadway and in American regional theatre. Recent Broadway: Tarzan, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Aida (Tony Award, 2000), Beauty and the Beast, Taboo, Flower Drum Song, Sweet Smell of Success, Twelfth Night, Dance of Death, The Capeman and Barrymore. Recent dance and opera: Carnival of the Animals (NYC Ballet), Tryst (Royal Ballet), Don Quixote (American Ballet Theatre) and Die Soldaten (NYC Opera). Permanent lighting installations: Niketown NYC and London and the Big Bang at the Museum of Natural History in NYC.

THARON MUSSER (Lighting Designer Original Production) has been the lighting designer for 117 Broadway productions among which are: Long Days Journey into Night; Mame; Applause; Same Time, Next Year; A Little Night Music; California Suite; The Prisoner of Second Avenue; The Sunshine Boys; Ballroom; The Act; The Real Thing; Tribute; They're Playing Our Song and 42nd Street. Ms. Musser won Tony Awards for Follies, Dreamgirls and A Chorus Line. She was the staff lighting designer for the Phoenix Theatre, the National Repertory Theatre Company, the American Shakespeare Festival, the Mark Taper Forum and the Dallas and Miami Opera Companies.

PATRICK VACCARIELLO (Music Direction & Supervision) Patrick most recently was the music director for the Broadway revival of La Cage aux Folles. He has also served as musical director for The Boy From Oz starring Hugh Jackman, as well as music supervisor/director for Gypsy with Bernadette Peters, Dance of the Vampires with Michael Crawford, Jesus Christ Superstar, Cabaret with Alan Cumming and Natasha Richardson, as well as productions word-wide of Victor/Victoria, Joseph… and Cats. Patrick conducted The Music Of Andrew Lloyd Webber worldwide including Beijing's Great Hall of the People. He has conducted the Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber with stars including Michael Crawford, Sarah Brightman, Elaine Paige, Anthony Warlow and Fei Xiang. Patrick was the music director/ supervisor for cast recordings of Cabaret revival, Gypsy with Bernadette Peters and The Boy From Oz with Hugh Jackman. He was also the music director for Hugh Jackman's one-man show In Time premiering at the Steve Wynn casino in Las Vegas. Kennedy Center: Sondheim Celebration, Passion. World premieres: Andrew Lloyd Webber's Whistle Down the Wind and Kander and Ebb's Over and Over. Conducted over 10 productions at the Goodspeed Opera house and is a graduate of the Hartt School of Music.

VIENNA WAITS PRODUCTIONS (Producer) is a company organized by John Breglio to produce this new production of A Chorus Line. Mr. Breglio is also a partner in the New York law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison where he heads the firm's Entertainment Department and is a member of the firm's Intellectual Property Group. Since joining the firm in 1971, he has concentrated in the representation of companies and individuals involved in all aspects of the entertainment industry, including the legitimate theater, motion picture, publishing and music businesses. Mr. Breglio advises and represents cultural not-for-profit organizations such as The New York Shakespeare Festival, The Actors Fund of America, The Manhattan Theatre Club, the Goodman Theatre of Chicago, Playwrights Horizons, the Roundabout Theatre Company, and Second Stage. A Chorus Line marks Mr. Breglio's producing debut.

KEN ALAN (Bobby). Broadway: Fosse. National Tour: Fosse, Chicago, and Grease!. Television: "From Broadway: Fosse" (for A&E). Regional/Showcase: Yank! (NYMTF); Me and My Girl (Goodspeed, CT); Fosse (Gateway Playhouse, NY); West Side Story (MUNY, St. Louis, MO); Irving Berlin's White Christmas (San Francisco, CA) and The Look of Love workshop (NY).

Brad Anderson (Don). Broadway: All Shook Up (Chad u/s), The Boy from Oz (Mark Herron, Peter u/s), Kiss Me Kate (Gremio), Fosse, Anything Goes (LTC Gala). Natl Tours/Regional: Aida (Radames), South Pacific (Cable, Helen Hayes Nom.), Damn Yankees (Rocky), Starlight Express, Smokey Joe's Cafe, Hot Mikado, "Actor, Lawyer, Indian Chief".

Michael Berresse (Zach). Broadway: Kiss Me, Kate (Tony, Outer Critics, Astaire nominations); Chicago; Fascinatin' Rhythm; Damn Yankees; Guys and Dolls; Fiddler on the Roof. Off-Broadway: Forever Plaid, The Cocoanuts, Call Me Madame, One Touch of Venus. London: Kiss Me, Kate (Olivier nomination). Regional: The Dybbuk, A Majority of One, Annie, West Side Story, Damn Yankees. Direction: [Title of Show]. Film: Artificial Intelligence, The Next Step. TV: "Law & Order: SVU."

NATALIE CORTEZ (Diana). Broadway debut. Off Broadway: Sidd (Mala), Fame (Carmen). National and International tours: Mambo Kings, Cinderella (starring Eartha Kitt), Fame. Regional: West Side Story (Maria), Anything Goes (Hope), On The Town (Ivy Smith). TV: MTV's "Made" (Salsa Coach).

CHARLOTTE d'AMBOISE (Cassie) has just completed an extended run in the Broadway hit Chicago as Roxie Hart. She earned the L.A. Drama Critics' Circle Award, L.A. Ovation Award and Bay Area Theatre Circle Award for her appearance in the show's national tour. Other NY credits: Charity in Sweet Charity (Fred Astaire Award), Can-Can (Encores!), Contact, Lola in Damn Yankees (Fred Astaire Award), Jerome Robbins' Broadway (Tony Award nomination), Company, Carrie, Song & Dance, Cats. Film: The Preacher's Wife, The In Crowd. (Pending Approval.)

MARA DAVI (Maggie) is making her Broadway debut as Maggie Winslow in A Chorus Line. Mara left her studies at Califonia State University Fullerton, where she appeared in Dames at Sea (Ruby) and A Chorus Line (Cassie) to tour Japan and America as Peggy Sawyer in 42nd Street. Other Credits: White Christmas (Wang Center, Boston), Baby, Gypsy, George M! and Singin' in the Rain.

JESSICA LEE GOLDYN (Val) is thrilled to be making her Broadway debut. Credits include featured roles in Fosse, A Chorus Line, Sweet Charity and Pippin. She has trained with New Jersey Ballet Company and Worth Tyrrell Studios.

Deidre Goodwin (Shelia). Broadway: Chicago (Velma Kelly), Chita Rivera The Dancers Life, Nine (Our Lady of the Spa), Never Gonna Dance (Velma), Jesus Christ Superstar, The Rocky Horror Show. New York Theatre includes Encores! The Pajama Game, (Gladys), Fringe Festival, Silence of the Lambs (Ardelia). Film: "Chicago" (June).

Tyler Hanes (Larry). Broadway credits include Hairspray, Sweet Charity (Charlie), The Frogs, The Boy From Oz, Urban Cowboy, Oklahoma!. National Tours: Fosse (first national), The Will Rogers Follies. Regional: Footloose ( Ren McCormick, Marriott Lincolnshire) TV: "One Life to Live" (recurring), "Today," "The Tony Awards". Recordings: "Sweet Charity", "The Frogs", "The Boy From Oz."

JAMES T. LANE (Richie) is originally from Philadelphia. Recent credits: Cole Porter's The Pirate (Trillo), Dreamgirls (Wayne) at The Prince Music Theatre and Finnian's Rainbow (Howard) at The Walnut Street Theatre. Off Broadway: Fame (Ensemble). National Tours: Fame (Tyrone) and Cinderella (Ensemble).
 
PAUL MCGILL (Mark). Broadway: La Cage aux Folles. Regional: Footloose (Ren), Crazy For You (Bobby), Oklahoma! (Will). A native of Pittsburgh, Paul is a recent high school graduate of the Young Performers' Institute.

HEATHER PARCELLES (Judy Turner) is estatic to play, essentially, herself in A Chorus Line! Broadway: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Nat'l tours: Thoroughly Modern Millie (Miss Dorothy/Flannery u/s's), Some Like it Hot (Sweet Sue u/s), Chicago (Velma). Off Bway: Meet…St. Louis (Esther), Mlle Modiste (Fifi). T.V.: "Guiding Light".

MICHAEL PATERNOSTRO (Greg). Broadway and tours: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Producers, Sweet Smell of Success, Saturday Night Fever, Fosse, Guys and Dolls, West Side Story, etc… TV: "Whoopi!" (NBC).

ALISAN PORTER (Bebe) has appeared in such films as Parenthood, I love You To Death, Stella and Curly Sue. She was in the Broadway Production of Footloose in 1999 and gained serious attention as Crissy in Reprise's Hair and Miriam in BCBG's The Ten Commandments. Alisan also fronts her band, The Alisan Porter Project.

Jeffrey Schecter (Mike) started dancing at the age of 11 when he saw John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. At that moment he thought, "I can do that." The rest is history. Broadway/Tours: Guys and Dolls, West Side Story, Wonderful Town, Beauty and the Beast and currently The Pajama Game starring Harry Connick Jr. He is honored to revive this classic story.

YUKA TAKARA (Connie) is originally from Okinawa, Japan. National Tour: Flower Drum Song (Mei-Li). Original Broadway casts: Pacific Overtures (2004 revival), Flower Drum Song (2002 revival), Mamma Mia!. Also Flower Drum workshop, Radio City Musical Hall's Christmas Spectacular; City Center Encores! Hair and Bye Bye Birdie (Sad Girl). Regional: The Fantasticks (Luisa) at Sacramento Music Circus, A Chorus Line (Connie) at Geva Theatre.Television: "Law & Order: SVU."

JASON TAM (Paul). Broadway: Les Miserables. Regional: She Loves Me at The Guthrie Theatre, West Side Story, King and I, Oklahoma! And Footlose at Sacramento Music Circus, King and I at Casa Manana. TV: "Beyond the Break". Training: BFA from NYU.

CHRYSSIE WHITEHEAD (Kristine) originally from Los Angeles, is moving to NYC to make her Broadway debut. Film: The Producers, Riffraff, Save the Last Dance (Julia Stiles's dance double). Televison: "Two and a Half Men", "Boston Public", "MTV Movie Awards". National Tours: The Producers, Fosse, Paul McCartney. Regional: A Chorus Line (Casa Manana), All Shook Up (Goodspeed), Will Rogers Follies (Sacramento Music Circus). Training: AMDA.

Tony Yazbeck (Al). Broadway: Never Gonna Dance, Oklahoma! and Gypsy (w/ Tyne Daly). Off-Broadway: Fanny Hill (Charles) and the Encores! productions of The Apple Tree, Pardon My English and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. National Tours: Doctor Dolittle (Matthew Mugg), Thoroughly Modern Millie and Annie Get Your Gun. Regional: Tony in West Side Story (Trinity Rep.) and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (The Old Globe). TV: "All My Children," "As The World Turns."