Linda Lavin, Sierra Boggess, LaChanze & More Lead PRINCE OF BROADWAY this Fall; First Casting Revealed!

Producers Aubrey Dan, Martyn Hayes and Peter W. Lamb for Dancap Productions Inc. just announced the Tony-celebrated cast and creative team for PRINCE OF BROADWAY, the new musical celebrating legendary Broadway director and producer Harold “Hal” Prince. The production is directed by 21-time Tony Award winner Harold Prince, co-directed and choreographed by 5-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman, and features a book by Tony Award nominee David Thompson. PRINCE OF BROADWAY will open on Broadway in November 2012 at a theatre to be announced at a later date.

The production will star Tony Award winner Linda Lavin (The Lyons, Collected Stories), Sebastian Arcelus (Elf, Jersey Boys), Sierra Boggess (Master Class, The Little Mermaid), Tony Award nominee Daniel Breaker (Shrek the Musical, Passing Strange), Josh Grisetti (Enter Laughing, the Musical; After the Ball), Tony Award winner Shuler Hensley (Young Frankenstein, Oklahoma!), Richard Kind (The Producers, “Spin City”), Amanda Kloots-Larsen (Follies – 2011), Tony Award winner LaChanze (The Color Purple, Once on this Island), Caroline O’Connor (Chicago, Moulin Rouge), Tony Award nominee David Pittu (Is He Dead?, Lovemusik) and Tony Award nominee Emily Skinner (Billy Elliot, Side Show).

Celebrating one of the most influential and successful careers in the American theatre of the past 60 years, PRINCE OF BROADWAY will look at the circumstances and fortune, both good and bad, that led to Hal Prince creating some of the most enduring and beloved theatre of all time, including The Pajama Game, West Side Story, Fiorello!, Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Evita, and The Phantom of the Opera, the longest-running show in Broadway history.

PRINCE OF BROADWAY will feature words and music from some of the shows that have earned Hal Prince a record 21 Tony Awards.

PRINCE OF BROADWAY includes scenic design by Tony Award nominee Beowulf Boritt, costume design by Tony Award winner William Ivey Long, lighting design by Tony Award winner Howell Binkley and sound design by Tony Award nominee Jonathan Deans.

The production also features musical supervision, incidental music, vocal and dance arrangements by Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown, orchestrations by Don Sebesky and musical direction by Eric Stern.

Harold Prince directed the original productions of Cabaret, Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, The Phantom of the Opera, She Loves Me, Company, Follies, Candide, Pacific Overtures, Evita, Parade, LoveMusik, and Paradise Found. Before becoming a director, Mr. Prince’s productions included The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, Fiorello! and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Among the plays he has directed are Hollywood Arms, The Visit, The Great God Brown, End of the World, Play Memory and his own play, Grandchild of Kings. He prepared a new version of Phantom, which is running in Las Vegas at the Venetian Hotel. His opera productions have been seen at Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, Vienna Staatsoper and the Theater Colon in Buenos Aires. He served as a trustee for the New York Public Library and on the National Council of the Arts of the NEA. Recently, he became an officer with the Order of Arts and Letters from the French Government for “contributing significantly to furthering the arts in France and throughout the world.” He is the recipient of a National Medal of Arts for the year 2000 from President Clinton for a career spanning more than 40 years, in which “he changed the nature of the American musical.” In 2010, he received the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center’s Monte Cristo Award. The recipient of 21 Tony Awards, he was a 1994 Kennedy Center Honoree.

Susan Stroman is a five-time Tony Award-winning director and choreographer. Her work has been honored with Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Lucille Lortel Awards. Broadway credits include The Producers, Contact,Crazy for You, Show Boat, Oklahoma!, Young Frankenstein, The Frogs, The Music Man, Thou Shalt Not, Steel Pier, Big, Picnic and, most recently, The Scottsboro Boys. Off-Broadway credits include Flora the Red Menace, And the World Goes ’Round, Happiness, Madison Square Garden’s A Christmas Carol, and Paradise Found at London’s Meiner Chocolate Factory. For New York City Opera she choreographed ALittle Night Music, 110 in the Shade and Don Giovanni. For New York City Ballet she created For the Love of Duke and the full-length ballet Double Feature. Other ballets include But Not For Me for Martha Graham Company and Take Five…More or Less for Pacific Northwest Ballet. Her choreography received an Emmy nomination for the HBO presentation “Liza Minnelli: Live from Radio City Music Hall.” Other TV credits include co-conceiver/choreographer for PBS’s “Sondheim – a Celebration at Carnegie Hall,” “An Evening with the Boston Pops – A Tribute to Leonard Bernstein” and the “2009 Kennedy Center Honors”. She received the American Choreography Award for her work in Columbia Pictures feature film Center Stage. She directed and choreographed The Producers: The Movie Musical, nominated for four Golden Globes. She is the recipient of the George Abbott Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Theatre and the winner of a record five Astaire Awards.

Launched in 2007 by Aubrey Dan, Dancap Productions Inc. is a Tony Award-winning commercial theatre company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to producing and presenting award-winning Broadway-style theatre, Dancap’s inaugural season included The Drowsy Chaperone, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, 3 Mo Divas, My Fair Lady, Avenue Q and Jersey Boys. Dancap’s international and Broadway production and investment credits include: Jersey Boys, Wicked, In the Heights, The Farnsworth Invention, Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll, [Title of Show], A Little Night Music, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Memphis, West Side Story, Come Fly Away, The Addams Family, Ghost The Musical and the upcoming productions of Leap of Faith and A Streetcar Named Desire. In Toronto, the 2012 Dancap Subscription Series includes presentations of American Idiot, In The Heights, Shrek The Musical, West Side Story, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and Million Dollar Quartet. www.DancapTickets.com

Linda Lavin returns to Broadway this spring starring in Nicky Silver’s comedy The Lyons, having created the role of Rita Lyons when the play debuted last fall at Vineyard Theatre. Her many Broadway credits include having won the Tony Award for Broadway Bound, along with Tony nominations for Collected Stories, The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, The Diary of Anne Frank and The Last of the Red Hot Lovers. She appeared at the Kennedy Center in Follies and at Lincoln Center in Other Desert Cities and The New Century. She starred for nine seasons on the TV series “Alice,” winning two Golden Globes. Her numerous film roles include the recent Wanderlust. Last fall she released her first CD, Possibilities, a recording of Broadway and cabaret standards with musical arrangements by Billy Stritch.

Sebastian Arcelus most recently appeared in the off-Broadway production of The Blue Flower at Second Stage Theater. He also created the leading role of Buddy in the Broadway musical Elf. Other Broadway credits include Jersey Boys (Bob Gaudio), Wicked (Fiyero), Rent (Roger Davis), and Good Vibrations. Additional Off-Broadway credits include Happiness (Lincoln Center Theater, directed by Susan Stroman) and Where’s Charley? (Encores!). Some regional and international credits include world premieres of A Time To Kill (Arena Stage) and William Finn’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, Wicked (first national), The Full Monty (NSMT), West Side Story (Latin America), Miss Julie and Floyd Collins, among others. His voice can also be heard on numerous television commercials and animated programs.

Sierra Boggess is currently appearing off-Broadway in Love, Loss and What I Wore. Last seen on Broadway opposite Tyne Daly in Master Class as well as originated the title character in Disney’s The Little Mermaid. In London, she appeared in the 25th Anniversary Concerts of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom Of The Opera (available on CD and DVD) and played Christine Daaé in his new musical Love Never Dies (Olivier Award nomination). Other theatre: Christine in The Phantom of the Opera (Las Vegas), Music in the Air (Encores!) and more. Concert appearances: BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall, Lincoln Center’s American Songbook, New York Pops at Carnegie Hall and Broadway by the Year at Town Hall. Recordings: Symphonic recording of Love Never Dies and the original cast album for The Little Mermaid and Andrew Lippa’s A Little Princess.

Daniel Breaker. Broadway: Shrek the Musical (Drama Desk Award nomination), Passing Strange (Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations, Theatre World Award, AUDELCO Award), Cymbeline (LCT), Well. Off-Broadway: By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (2nd Stage), Passing Strange (Public), Fabulation (Playwrights), Pericles (Red Bull, Culture Project). London: How to Act Around Cops (Soho Theatre). Regional: Life Is a Dream (South Coast Rep), The Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare Theatre Company; Helen Hayes nomination), The Caucasian Chalk Circle (SCR), The Tempest (STC; Helen Hayes nomination), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (STC), The Rivals (STC), The Silent Woman (STC), HMS Pinafore (Berkshire Theatre Festival), Black Sheep (Barrington), Sundance Theater Lab, 2005. Film: Passing Strange (dir. Spike Lee), Limitless, He's Way More Famous Than You. TV: “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Unforgettable.” BFA, Juilliard.

Josh Grisetti. Broadway: Neil Simon’s ill-fated Broadway Bound. Off-Broadway: Rent, Enter Laughing (York Theatre – Theatre World Award winner; Drama Desk, OCC, Drama League and Lucille Lortel nominations), Candida (Irish Rep), After the Ball (Irish Rep). Regional: Enter Laughing (Bay Street), No Way To Treat a Lady (Cape Playhouse), How to Succeed… (Reprise – Ovation & Garland Award winner), Funny Thing…Forum (Williamstown), Spamalot (Las Vegas), Lucky Guy (Goodspeed), Camelot (North Shore), Where’s Charley? (Caldwell), Grease! (Sacramento), Follies (Overture), Cosi fan Tutte (Operafestival di Roma), etc. TV: “Nurse Jackie,” “The Knights of Prosperity,” “The Superagent.” Film: Lowlife, Revolutionary Road, The Namesake, Public Interest and The Sandpiper. 2011 Clive Barnes Award finalist. www.joshgrisetti.com

Shuler Hensley won a Tony Award for his searing portrayal of Jud Fry in the Broadway revival of Oklahoma! for which he also received an Olivier Award in London. Other Broadway appearances include Young Frankenstein, Tarzan, and Les Miserables. On film, Shuler was featured in Van Helsing, The Legend Of Zorro, and the upcoming Odd Thomas. Recent concert appearances with Michael Tilson Thomas include The Thomashevsky Project, with the New York Philharmonic, San Francisco and New World (filmed for PBS) Symphonys, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Shuler will return to San Francisco for performances of Schoenberg’s Survivor From Warsaw, again conducted by Tilson Thomas.

Richard Kind. Broadway: The Producers, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Sly Fox, The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife. Candide (NYC Opera), Bounce (Goodman & Kennedy Center); The Lady in Question, Rough Crossing (Bay Street Theatre); Once in a Lifetime (Guthrie); The Front Page, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, The Big Knife (Williamstown Theatre Festival); Guys & Dolls, Accomplice (Ogunquit Playhouse); Power Failure (Actors Studio Free Theatre Co.); The Seagull (Matrix Theatre); Perfect (Tiffany Theatre); Gravity Shoes (Hudson Theatre); The Second City (Chicago, N.Y., L.A.); Working, All in the Timing, Things You Shouldn’t Say Past Midnight, Synergy (L.A. TheatreWorks). Film: The Hereafter, A Serious Man, The Visitor, The Station Agent, A Bug’s Life, Cars and many others. TV: HBO’s “Luck,” “Spin City,” “Mad About You,” “Carol Burnett & Company,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and many others.

Amanda Kloots-LARSEN. Broadway: Follies [2011], Young Frankenstein, Good Vibrations (Bikini Girl) London: Paradise Found. National Tours (Original Companies): Young Frankenstein, Spamalot, 42nd Street. Regional: Crazy For You (Tess), Carnival, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Anything Goes (Angel), Kiss Me Kate. Radio City Music Hall Rockette. For the best desserts in NYC and around the world check out her website, www.justdessertsnyc.com.

LaCHANZE. Broadway: The Color Purple (2006 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical), Once on This Island (Tony and Drama Desk nominations), Ragtime, Company, Uptown It’s Hot. Off-Broadway: Dessa Rose (Obie Award and Drama Desk Award nomination), The Vagina Monologues, Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin (Drama Desk nomination). Other theater credits: The Wiz, Baby, From the Mississippi Delta and Spunk. Film credits include The Help, Breaking Upwards, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Disney’s Hercules, For Love or Money and Leap of Faith. Television credits include “Handel’s Messiah Rocks” (Emmy Award), “Lucy” (CBS TV movie), “Law & Order: SVU,” “Sex and the City,” “New York Undercover” and “The Cosby Show.” She recently performed in the American Songbook Series for Lincoln Center.

CAROLINE O’CONNOR most recently played Rose in Gypsy (UK), Phyllis in Follies (Chicago) and Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd (Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris). She made her Broadway debut as Velma in Chicago. West End: Mabel Normand in Mack and Mabel (Olivier nomination); Hildy Esterhazy in On The Town; Romance, Romance; Street Scene; Matador; The Rink; Cabaret; Me and My Girl; Showboat (RSC); Damn Yankees; Baby; Into the Woods and A Chorus Line. In Australia: Chicago, West Side Story, Man of La Mancha, Funny Girl, Piaf, Bombshells (Olivier nomination) and the world premiere of End of the Rainbow. Films include: Nini Legs In The Air in Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! and Ethel Merman in the Cole Porter biopic De-Lovely. Solo Albums: What I Did For Love, A Tribute To Piaf, From Stage to Screen, A Tribute to Garland.

David Pittu first worked with Harold Prince when he starred as Leo Frank in the national tour of Parade, for which he received the National Broadway Award. For LoveMusik, also directed by Mr. Prince, he received his first Tony nomination and an Outer Critics Circle Award. His received his second Tony nomination for Is He Dead? He created and starred in What’s That Smell: The Music of Jacob Sterling, which received two Outer Critics Circle nominations, including Best Musical. Other Broadway: The Coast of Utopia. Recent: CQ/CX at Atlantic, Equivocation at MTC (Lortel and Outer Critics Circle nominations), Bells are Ringing (Encores!), Twelfth Night at the Delacorte (St. Clare Bayfield Award). In 2010, he received the Daryl Roth Creative Spirit Award. Recent Film/TV: “Pan Am,” “Damages,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “The Good Wife,” Men in Black 3.

Emily Skinner most recently appeared on Broadway as Mrs. Wilkinson in Billy Elliot. Broadway: original companies of Side Show (Tony nomination, Drama League Award), Jekyll & Hyde, The Full Monty, James Joyce’s The Dead (with Christopher Walken), Dinner at Eight (Outer Critics Circle nomination). Off-Broadway: Jerry Springer: The Opera (with Harvey Keitel) at Carnegie Hall; No Strings, Pardon My English, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (at City Center’s Encores!); leading roles at Manhattan Theatre Club, WPA Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Roundabout Theatre Company, York Theatre, Paramount Theatre at Madison Square Garden. Regional: multiple roles at the Kennedy Center, Signature Theatre, the Hangar, Long Wharf, The Old Globe and many others. She has also sung with symphonies internationally and is a very proud member of AEA.