Recent Standing Ovations IV favorite, Jennifer Rae Beck will replace Kerry O'Malley on November 7th at 7:30 in an all-star benefit reading of "All About Eve" at the Barrow Street Theatre (27 Barrow St. & Seventh Ave. South in the West Village). O'Malley is unable to perform in the benefit due to unexpected scheduling conflicts in shooting her new Showtime TV series, "Brotherhood."
Presented by the Melting Pot Theatre Company and using the 1951 radio-play version of Joseph L. Mankiewicz' film script, All About Eve will also star Kate Burton, Gregg Edelman and others. Tony Award-nominee Burton (The Constant Wife, Hedda Gabler) will play the larger-than-life theatre star Margo Channing, whose decision to take aspiring actress Eve Harrington under her wing leads to backstabbing and betrayal. Tony Award-nominee Edelman (Into the Woods, City of Angels) will play Margo's director boyfriend Bill Sampson, while the reading will also feature Tony Award-nominee Terrence Mann (Lennon, Les Miserables) as the suavely nasty theatre critic Addison DeWitt, Tony Award-nominee Emily Skinner (Side Show, The Full Monty) as the dishy Ms. Caswell, Christine Pedi (Forbidden Broadway) as gossip columnist Libby Collins, Tamara Tunie (Julius Caesar) as Margo's pal Karen, Jackie Hoffman (Hairspray) as Birdie, Adam Heller (Caroline, or Change, A Class Act) as John Milton Kennedy, and Patrick Quinn (The Sound of Music, Beauty and the Beast) as producer William Keighley.
Nick Corley will direct the reading, which uses the "Lux Radio Theatre" script. All About Eve won the 1950 Academy Award for Best Picture, as well as five others. Bette Davis, who had the role of a lifetime as Margo, received an Oscar nomination, as did co-stars Anne Baxter, Thelma Ritter and Celeste Holm (Sanders, as Addison DeWitt, won). Manckiewicz picked up Oscars for both his direction and his barbed screenplay, which paid critical put loving tribute to the theatre world. Applause, the 1970 musical adaptation by Charles Strouse, Lee Adams, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, starred Lauren Bacall and Penny Fuller and was a hit at 896 performances. Both Bacall and the musical itself received Tony Awards. Two of the stars of the upcoming reading - Edelman and O'Malley - previously worked together in MPTC's production of the musical Flight: The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh.
According to its website, the Melting Pot Theatre Company "creates, develops, and produces New York premieres of plays and musicals that explore the themes, people, and events that shape the unique American experience." Last season, the company presented another benefit featuring a radio play adaptation of a classic movie--It's a Wonderful Life. Ticket can be purchased for $300 and $600 each; rows of 10 are available at $3,000 and $6,000. A limited number of show-only tickets are available for $100, as well, and a good portion of each (tax-deductible) ticket will be given to charity. A 9 PM post-show reception at Agave (140 Seventh Ave., South & West 10th St.) will follow the reading. For tickets, call MPTC at (212) 874-7210, send a fax to (212) 874-6054 or e-mail Sean@MeltingPotTheatre.com . Visit http://meltingpottheatre.com for more information.
.png)
