Encores! 'Juno' to Star Schuck, Arden & Keenan-Bolger with Clark

Tony Award-winner Victoria Clark will be joined by Conrad John Schuck, Dermot Crowley, Celia Keenan-Bolger and Michael Arden in Marc Blitzstein and Joseph Stein's Juno, the second Encores! production of New York City Center's 2008 season. 

Directed by Tony Award- winner Garry Hynes with guest music direction by Eric Stern and choreography by Warren Carlyle, Juno will play for five performances, from March 27 – 30, at New York City Center,  West 55th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues). This will be the first production since the original Broadway staging in 1959 to use the original orchestration by Blitzstein, Hershey Kay and Robert Russell Bennett.

Juno, with music and lyrics by Marc Blitzstein and book by Joseph Stein is based on the 1924 play Juno and The Paycock by Sean O'Casey.  It originally opened on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theater on March 9, 1959, starring Shirley Booth and Melvyn Douglas, and played a total of sixteen performances. Songs include "I Wish It So," "We're Alive," and "One Kind Word."

"Juno chronicles the disintegration of an Irish family in Dublin in the early 1920s during the confrontation between the Irish Republican Army and the British.  Juno Boyle (Victoria Clark) is the hardworking matriarch who struggles heroically to hold her family together in the face of war, betrayal, and her husband's drinking.  Conrad John Schuck will play her husband, Captain Boyle," state press notes.

The cast includes: Victoria Clark, Conrad John Schuck, Dermot Crowley, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Michael Arden, Tyler Hanes, Clarke Thorell, Rosaleen Linehan, Louisa Flaningam, Jennifer Smith and Kay Walbye with Timothy W. Bish, Troy Edward Bowles, Pamela Brumley, Callie Carter, Leah Edwards, Kurt Froman, Ryan Jackson,  Mary Ann Lamb, Jay Lusteck, Mary Macleod , Annie McGreevey, J. Maxwell Miller, Pamela Otterson, John Selya,  Timothy Shew, Meagan Thomas, Kevin Vortmann, Alan M-L Wagner, and Patrick Wetzel.

Juno performance schedule is Thursday March 27 at 8PM; Friday March 28 at 8PM; Saturday March 29 at 2PM & 8PM; and Sunday March 30 at 6:30PM.

Tickets for the 2008 Encores! season are available at the New York City Center Box Office (West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues), through CityTix at 212-581-1212, or online at www.nycitycenter.org.  Tickets for the Orchestra, Grand Tier and Mid-Mezzanine are $95; tickets for the Rear Mezzanine and Front Gallery are $50; tickets for the Rear Gallery are $25.  

Victoria Clark (Juno Boyle) won the Tony Award for her performance in The Light in the Piazza by Craig Lucas and Adam Guettel. Clark's previous work includes the Broadway musicals How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Cabaret, Urinetown, Titanic, Guys and Dolls and A Grand Night for Singing.  She is featured in M. Night Shyamalan's upcoming film, The Happening, and just released her debut solo album, "Fifteen Seconds of Grace." Ms. Clark portrayed Sally in last season's acclaimed Encores! production of Follies.

Conrad John Schuck (Captain Boyle) last appeared on Broadway in the revival of Annie Get Your Gun.  He played Daddy Warbucks in both the original and revival productions of Annie. Mr. Schuck has worked frequently with director Robert Altman in such classic films as Mash, Brewster McCloud, McCabe & Mrs. Miller and Thieves Like Us. He was a series regular on "McMillian & Wife," opposite Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James, for six seasons.

Dermot Crowley (Joxer Boyle) appeared on Broadway in Conor McPherson's The Weir and Brian Friel's Translations.  His other credits include Dealer's Choice at both the Long Wharf and Manhattan Theatre Club.  Mr. Crowley has worked extensively at the Royal National Theatre and in the West End in London. His films include The Legend of Bagger Vance, Octopussy, The Return of the Jedi and Babel.

Celia Keenan-Bolger (Mary Boyle) recently appeared on Broadway as Eponine in Les Misérables, and both on and off-Broadway in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.  She has appeared off Broadway in Little Fishes at Second Stage, Kindertransport at Manhattan Theatre Club and Summer of '42 at Godspeed Opera House.

Michael Arden (Jerry Devine) made his Broadway debut as Tom Sawyer in the 2003 revival of Big River. Michael recently starred in the Twyla Tharp musical The Times They Are A-Changin', based on the music of Bob Dylan, both on Broadway and at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. In the summer of 2007 he toured Europe with Barbra Streisand as one of her 'Broadway Boys'. Michael's regional theatre credits include Pippin, God of Vengeance, Falsettoland, Tom Jones' Harold and Maude, West Side Story, Songs for a New World, The Common Pursuit and Tale. His television credits include Grey's Anatomy," Numbers," and the upcoming Fox show, "The Return of Jezebel James."

Tyler Hanes (Johnny Boyle) is an accomplished dancer/singer/actor and has been a performer for most of his life. His Broadway credits include Oklahoma!, Urban Cowboy, The Boy From Oz, The Frogs, Sweet Charity, Hairspray and A Chorus Line. Tyler starred as Ren McCormick in a Chicago production of Footloose, winning a prestigious Joseph Jefferson Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. Tyler played the recurring role of Brian on "One Life to Live" and recently wrapped production on Phoebe in Wonderland (2009) starring Felicity Huffman and Bill Pullman.

Garry Hynes (Director) received a Tony Award for Best Director in 1998 for Martin McDonagh's The Beauty Queen of Leenane, and has the distinction of being the first woman ever to win a Tony for directing. The following year she received a Tony nomination for her direction of Mr. McDonagh's The Lonesome West. Her additional Broadway credits include Translations and Sixteen Wounded. She co-founded Ireland's Druid Theatre Company, the first professional company established in Ireland outside Dublin.  She served as Artistic Director of the company between 1975 and 1990, and again from 1994 to the present. In 1990, Ms. Hynes was appointed Artistic Director of The Abbey Theatre.  She has also directed for the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-on-Avon and London, The Royal Court Theatre (London) and The Gate Theatre (Dublin). 

Eric Stern (Guest Music Director) is a veteran Broadway conductor and arranger with over 15 Broadway musicals and 30 albums to his credit. His Broadway credits include Xanadu, Follies, Parade, Candide, Once Upon a Mattress, The King And I, Carousel, The Will Rogers Follies, and Legs Diamond. Mr. Stern's albums include the Grammy-award winning Will Rogers Follies, Leonard Bernstein's New York, and three complete Gershwin musicals: Lady Be Good, Pardon My English and Oh, Kay! Mr. Stern was awarded an Emmy for his work with PBS and is the recipient of numerous Gramophone awards. He was guest musical director of last season's Encores! production of Follies.

The Newman's Own Foundation is the Season Sponsor for the 2008 Encores! season.  

top-bottom: Conrad John Schuck, Celia Keenan-Bolger and Michael Arden