Executive Producer Lou Spisto today announced the cast and creative team for the World Premiere of Robin and the 7 Hoods - A New Musical featuring a book by Tony Award winner Rupert Holmes and songs by four-time Academy Award winners Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen. Directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw, with musical supervision and vocal and incidental arrangements by John McDaniel, the Broadway-bound musical comedy will run in the Old Globe Theatre July 14 - August 22. Previews run July 14 - July 29. Opening night is Friday, July 30 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are currently available to subscribers only. Single tickets go on sale June 5 at 10:00 a.m. and can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or by visiting the Box Office.
Based on the classic Rat Pack film, Robin and the 7 Hoods takes the Robin Hood legend and gives it an early-sixties spin. Set in Chicago, when "Mad Men" reigned supreme and martinis flowed freely, the musical features such classic
Sammy Cahn and
Jimmy Van Heusen tunes as "My Kind of Town (Chicago Is)," "Call Me Irresponsible" and "All the Way." When Robbo, a suave, fast-rising entrepreneur in Chicago's sophisticated nightclub scene, tries to re-organize organized crime, he finds himself wanted by both sides of the law. He and his merry band quickly learn that a few wrongs - and a few songs - could make things right.
The cast of Robin and the 7 Hoods features
Will Chase (Little John),
Adam Heller (Lieutenant Nottingham),
Rick Holmes (P.J. Sullivan),
Jeffrey Schecter (Willie Scarlatti),
Eric Schneider (Robbo),
Amy Spanger (Alana O'Dell) and
Kelly Sullivan (Marian Archer) with
Timothy J. Alex,
Clyde Alves,
Graham Bowen, Andrew Cao,
Cara Cooper,
Paige Faure,
Lisa Gajda,
Stephanie Gibson, Carissa Lopez,
Vasthy Mompoint,
Beth Johnson Nicely,
Aleks Pevec, Sam Prince,
Tally Sessions,
Brian Shepard and
Anthony Wayne (Ensemble).
The creative team includes
Robert Brill (Scenic Design),
Gregg Barnes (Costume Design),
Kenneth Posner (Lighting Design),
John Shivers and
David Patridge (Sound Design),
Josh Marquette (Hair and Wig Design),
Bill Elliott (Orchestrator),
Mark Hummel (Music Director),
David Chase (Dance Music Arranger),
Tara Rubin Casting (Casting) and
Peter Wolf (Stage Manager).
Robin and the 7 Hoods is based on the original screenplay by David R. Schwartz and is produced with the permission of
Warner Brothers Theatrical Ventures.
Will Chase (Little John) appeared on Broadway as Tony in Billy Elliot: The Musical. He has starred on Broadway in The Story of My Life, High Fidelity, Lennon, Aida, The Full Monty, Miss Saigon and as Roger in the final cast of Rent. His Off Broadway credits include The Burnt Part Boys (Vineyard Theater) and Don't Quit Your Night Job (Ha!
Comedy Club). Chase's regional credits include Valentin in Kiss of the Spiderwoman (
Helen Hayes Nomination,
Signature Theatre), Curly in Oklahoma! (Lyric
Theatre Of Oklahoma), Sid in The Pajama Game (The MUNY) and Mame (Jeff Award nomination). His film credits include Four Single Fathers, Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway, Everyday People (HBO Films) and Shaft. On television, Chase currently plays Pat Mahoney on FX's "Rescue Me."
Eric Schneider (Robbo) performed the role of
Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys on Broadway as well as Danny Zuko in the national tour of Grease. His Off Broadway credits include Altar Boyz, The Full Monty and the original cast of
Happy Days as Chachi. Schneider's recent television roles are Sixtus D'Alessio in HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" for executive producer
Martin Scorsese and Officer
Eddie Nelson in this year's season finale of "Law & Order: SVU" with
Sharon Stone. His first film role was in Loverboy directed by
Kevin Bacon and he most recently filmed Goat, to be released later this year.
Amy Spanger (Alana O'Dell) originated the roles of Sherrie in Rock of Ages, Holly in The Wedding Singer (Drama Desk nomination), Bianca/Lois in Kiss Me Kate and appeared as Roxie Hart in Chicago, Hope Cladwell in Urinetown and Betty Schaeffer in Sunset Boulevard (Broadway). Spanger's Off Broadway credits include the role of Susan in
Jonathan Larson's tick, tick...BOOM! Her tours include Maureen in the first National Tour of Rent and Roxie in Chicago. Spanger's film and television credits include "Royal Pains," "Michael and Michael Have Issues," Law & Order: SVU," "Six Feet Under," Reefer Madness (Showtime) and Synecdoche, New York.
Kelly Sullivan (Marian Archer) was most recently seen as Claire De Loone in On the Town (
Paper Mill Playhouse). Her Broadway credits include Young Frankenstein, Contact and Bells Are Ringing. Her television and film credits include "Law and Order: Criminal Intent," "One Life to Live," "As the World Turns," The Producers, Winter of Frozen Dreams, Meet Pete, Greta and the upcoming My Father's Will and Ice Grill U.S.A. Her Off Broadway and regional credits include Burleigh Grimes (New World Stages), Enter Laughing (
York Theatre Company),
City Center Encores!, Steel Magnolias and The Full Monty (
Paper Mill Playhouse), world premiere of Carter's Way (Kansas City Repertory Theatre), Chicago (Pioneer Theatre Company), The Importance of Being Ernest and Private Lives (Great Lakes Theater Festival) and The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Repertory
Theatre Of St. Louis).
Rupert Holmes returns to
The Old Globe after writing the book for last year's sell-out run of the musical The First Wives Club. He is a playwright, composer, lyricist, arranger, screenwriter, conductor, novelist and singer-songwriter. To date, he has authored (and composed the music for) five Broadway shows: The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Tony Award-winner for Best Musical); the Tony-nominated play Say Goodnight Gracie (about the life of
George Burns); the Edgar Award winning comedy-thriller Accomplice; the tour-de-force for actor
Stacy Keach, Solitary Confinement; and, in collaboration with the legendary songwriting team of Kander and Ebb, the recent hit musical Curtains, starring
David Hyde Pierce. He has solely won Tony Awards as an author, composer and lyricist and received four additional Tony nominations. He has won five New York Drama Desk Awards, including Best Orchestration and, for Curtains, the 2007 award for Best Book of a Musical. In the nineties, he created and wrote AMC's critically-acclaimed television "dramedy" Remember WENN. With the millennium, his first novel, Where the Truth Lies, was a Booklist Top Ten Debut Crime Novel, nominated for a Nero Wolfe award for Best American Mystery, and made into a film by Atom Egoyan starring
Colin Firth and
Kevin Bacon. His second novel Swing reached #24 of all books on Amazon. His short story "Monks of the Abbey Victoria" is part of the prestigious anthology Best American Mystery Stories 2008. His current non-musical
Theatre Projects include the first stage adaptation of a John Grisham novel, A Time to Kill, which will premiere in 2011 at Washington, D.C.'s
Arena Stage. He has also completed a new stage version of
Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution with the approval of Dame Agatha's estate. He has recently finished stage musicals of the beloved screwball comedy My Man Godfrey with Urinetown's
Mark Hollmann; book and lyrics for the
Jerry Lewis comedy classic The Nutty Professor, with
Marvin Hamlisch as composer; and Secondhand Lions with the songwriting team of
Alan Zachary and
Michael Weiner.
The songs of lyricist
Sammy Cahn have been recorded by virtually every major singer of the 20th Century and are firmly ingrained in the American Songbook. He was nominated for more than 30 Academy Awards, and won four times. With
Saul Chaplin, Cahn began writing numbers for vaudeville acts and had his first success in 1935-36 with "Rhythm is Our Business" and "Until the Real Thing Comes Along," written for the Jimmy Lunceford Band, and 1937's "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen," a huge hit recorded by The Andrews Sisters. In 1942, Cahn joined with Jules Styne in Hollywood and together they wrote songs for 19 films (winning the Academy Award for "Three Coins in the Fountain") and the Broadway musical, High Button Shoes.
Frank Sinatra introduced Cahn to composer
Jimmy Van Heusen in 1955, and together they wrote the title song for the 1955 Sinatra film The Tender Trap and a TV musical version of Our Town that included the Emmy Award-winning "Love and Marriage." Their long association with
Frank Sinatra led to Sinatra's recording 89 of Cahn's songs, including "Come Fly with Me," "Only the Lonely," "All the Way" (Academy Award), "High Hopes" (Academy Award), "Call Me Irresponsible" (Academy Award), "The Second Time Around" and "My Kind of Town." Cahn and
Van Heusen also collaborated on the Broadway shows, Skyscraper and Walking Happy. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972. In 1974, Cahn performed a one-man show on Broadway called Words and Music and toured with the show numerous times in the years that followed.
Sammy Cahn died on January 15, 1993.
Composer
Jimmy Van Heusen was one of the most accomplished songwriters in the history of American popular music. He received 14 Academy Award nominations over the course of his 40-year career, and won four times.
Van Heusen began writing songs while still in high school. In 1933, he took a job as a staff pianist with Remick Music Publishing in New York City and was soon put under contract as a songwriter. Collaborating with lyricist
Eddie de Lange, he produced nearly 20 hit songs. By 1939,
Van Heusen had started working with another lyricist,
Johnny Burke. Together, the two began their own publishing firm and collaborated on the Broadway shows Nelly Bly and Carnival in Flanders, as well as over 30 films. Under contract with Paramount Studios,
Van Heusen and Burke moved to Hollywood in 1940 and together they wrote many hit songs for
Bing Crosby, including the Academy Awarding-winning "Swinging on a Star." In 1956, Burke semi-retired from songwriting and
Van Heusen started another successful partnership with lyricist
Sammy Cahn. Their catalog includes "Come Fly with Me," "Only the Lonely," "All the Way" (Academy Award), "High Hopes" (Academy Award), "Call Me Irresponsible" (Academy Award), "The Second Time Around" and "My Kind of Town." Cahn and
Van Heusen also collaborated on the Broadway shows, Skyscraper and Walking Happy.
Frank Sinatra recorded 85 of
Van Heusen's songs, more than any other composer. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971.
Jimmy Van Heusen died on February 7, 1990.
Raised in San Diego,
Casey Nicholaw made his acting debut at 16 years old in The Robber Bridegroom and later returned to choreograph the Globe's production of Lucky Duck. Nicholaw directed and choreographed The Drowsy Chaperone, for which he received Tony, Olivier, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle nominations. He also choreographed Monty Python's Spamalot, for which he received Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle nominations. Most recently, Nicholaw directed the world premiere of the new musical Minsky's at the
Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. Nicholaw directed and choreographed the highly-acclaimed productions of Anyone Can Whistle and Follies for
City Center Encores! His choreography and musical staging work includes Bye Bye Birdie for
City Center Encores!, Candide for the NY Philharmonic (also on "PBS Great Performances"), South Pacific at
Carnegie Hall (also on "PBS Great Performances"), Can-Can (
City Center Encores!) and Sinatra: His Voice, His World, His Way at Radio City Music Hall. Nicholaw is currently developing Elf: The Musical for
Warner Brothers.
John McDaniel (Music Supervisor and Vocal/Incidental Arrangements) has worked on television shows such as "The
Rosie O'Donnell Show" (two Emmy Awards), Friar's Roasts '99-'02, Tony Awards '97-'00 as arranger, "A Rosie Christmas" and "A Family is a Family" (HBO). His Broadway credits include Brooklyn, Annie Get Your Gun, Taboo, Chicago, Grease and
Patti LuPone on Broadway. Recordings as Producer: Annie Get Your Gun (Grammy Award), The
Maury Yeston Songbook, Brooklyn, Taboo, The Journey Home (
Malcolm Gets),
John McDaniel at the Piano (Broadway, Christmas, Compositions and Live at Joe's Pub). His recent credits include Catch Me If You Can (Seattle),
Happy Days (National Tour), Bonnie & Clyde (
La Jolla Playhouse), Pirates! (
Goodspeed Musicals,
Paper Mill Playhouse and
Huntington Theatre Company), music director/arranger for
Tyne Daly nightclub act, NYC, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and Guest Conductor at San Francisco Symphony and St. Louis Symphony. His upcoming projects include Daughter of the Regiment (Opera
Theatre Of St. Louis).
TICKETS to Robin and the 7 Hoods are currently available by subscription only. Single tickets go on sale on June 5 at 10:00 a.m. and can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or by visiting the box office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park. Performances begin on July 14 and continue through August 22. Ticket prices range from $68 to $89. Performance times: Previews: Wednesday, July 14 at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, July 15 at 8:00 p.m., Friday, July 16 at 8:00 p.m., Saturday, July 17 at 8:00 p.m., Sunday, July 18 at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, July 20 at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, July 21 at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, July 22 at 8:00 p.m., Friday, July 23 at 8:00 p.m., Saturday, July 24 at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., Sunday, July 25 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, July 27 at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, July 28 at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, July 29 at 8:00 p.m. Regular Performances: Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m., and Sunday evenings at 7:00 p.m. Discounts are available for full-time students, patrons 29 years of age and under, seniors and groups of 10 or more.
Associated events taking place during the run of Robin and the 7 Hoods include:
POST-SHOW FORUMS: Robin and the 7 Hoods
Tuesday, August 3 & 10 and Wednesday, August 4 FREE
Discuss the play with members of the Robin and the 7 Hoods cast and crew at post-show discussions led by the Globe's creative staff after the August 3, 4 and 10 performances.
INSIGHT SEMINAR: Robin and the 7 Hoods Monday, July 26 at 7:00 p.m. FREE
Insight Seminars are a Monday night series of informal presentations of ideas and insights to enhance the theater-going experience. The seminars feature a panel selected from the artistic company of each production and take place in the theater where the production is performed. Reception, 6:30 p.m. Seminar, 7:00 p.m. Admission is free and reservations are not required.
OUT AT THE GLOBE Thursday, August 12 at 6:30 p.m. $20
An evening for gay and lesbian theater lovers and the whole GLBT community, Out at the Globe includes a hosted wine and martini bar, appetizers, door prizes and a pre-show mixer. $20 per person. RSVP at (619) 23-GLOBE. (Tickets to Robin and the 7 Hoods and the Shakespeare Festival are sold separately.)
THANK GLOBE IT'S FRIDAY Friday, August 6 and 13 at 6:30 p.m. $20
Kick off the weekend with the Globe's Friday pre-show bash. TGIF includes a hosted wine and martini bar, appetizers and dessert, and live music from a local San Diego artist. $20 per person. RSVP at (619) 23-GLOBE. (Tickets to Robin and the 7 Hoods and the Shakespeare Festival are sold separately.)
LOCATION:
The Old Globe is located in San Diego's Balboa Park at 1363 Old Globe Way. There are numerous free parking lots available throughout the park. Valet parking is also available ($10). For additional parking information visit
www.BalboaPark.org.
The Tony Award-winning Old Globe is one of the country's leading professional regional theaters and has stood as San Diego's flagship arts institution for 75 years. Under the direction of Executive Producer
Louis G. Spisto,
The Old Globe produces a year-round season of 15 productions of classic, contemporary and new works on its three Balboa Park stages: the 600-seat
Old Globe Theatre, the 250-seat Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre and the 612-seat outdoor Lowell Davies
Festival Theatre, home of its internationally renowned Shakespeare Festival. More than 250,000 people attend Globe productions annually and participate in the theater's education and community programs. Numerous world premieres such as The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, A Catered Affair, and the annual holiday musical,
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, have been developed at
The Old Globe and have gone on to enjoy highly successful runs on Broadway and at regional theaters across the country.
