McKechnie and Ruffelle to Star in Toronto's 'Over Here!'?

According to The Toronto Star, the 1974 Broadway musical comedy Over Here! is currently scheduled to open at Toronto's Elgin Theatre late this June for a summer-long run before a potential London-transfer where it may open next year.

There are unconfirmed reports that Tony Award-winners Donna McKechnie (A Chorus Line) and Frances Ruffelle (Les Misérables) may be cast in the Toronto engagement.

Andrew Jarrett's Swingtime One Ltd. is producing and Broadway veteran Tony Stevens will direct and choreograph. Auditions were held in Toronto this week, with several local performers expected to be cast.

Over Here!, which opened at Broadway's Shubert Theatre March 6, 1974, starred two of the three surviving Andrews Sisters, Patty and Maxine.  Best known for songs like "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," the Andrews Sisters remain the best-selling female vocal group in history with 46 songs on the Billboard Top 10 from 1935 to 1953.  "The show celebrated the close vocal harmonies and jumping big band orchestrations that gave the World War II period its distinctive musical zing," states The Star.

Over Here! features a book by Will Holt and music and lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman.  The original Broadway production was directed by Tom Moore (Grease) with choreography by Patricia Birch (Grease).The original ensemble included the likes of John Travolta, Marylu Henner, Ann Reinking, and Treat Williams.