Musto In The Voice: Lansbury Is In For 'NIGHT MUSIC' Revival

The Village Voice's Michael Musto has announced on his La Daily Musto blog today that beloved stage star Angela Lansbury, though not officially announced yet, is indeed joining the upcoming A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC revival with Catherine Zeta-Jones.

On the September 9th episode of LIVE! with Regis and Kelly, star Michael Douglas confirmed the many recent reports and rumors that his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, will star in the upcoming fall revival.

The New York Post's Michael Riedel reported recently in his 'On Broadway' column in the The New York Post that the upcoming revival of Stephen Sondheim's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC has found its leading ladies. Riedel revealed that Catherine Zeta-Jones and recent Tony Award winner Angela Lansbury had agreed to appear in the production.

Riedel's article notes that Lansbury was keen to play Madame Armfeldt, provided the producers lined up another star to play her daughter, Desiree. The producers, after an anxious search, struck Hollywood gold with their catch for the role, Oscar winner Catherine Zeta-Jones. Zeta-Jones won an Oscar as Velma Kelly in the film "Chicago" and got her start on the West End musical stage.

Riedel states in his column that Stephen Sondheim himself called Zeta-Jones and persuaded her to do "NIGHT MUSIC." It will open at the Walter Kerr in December 2009. 

Read the full story in The New York Post by clicking here

Angela Lansbury won a 2009 Tony Award, her fifth, for her performance as Madame Arcati in the recent Broadway production of the Noel Coward hit BLITHE SPIRIT.

Angela Lansbury, who before 'BLITHE' last appeared on Broadway in Deuce, has enjoyed a career without precedent. Her professional career spans more than a half-century, during which she has flourished, first as a star of motion pictures, and now as a five-time Tony Award-winning Broadway star and most recently as the star of "Murder, She Wrote," the longest-running detective drama series in the history of television. The actress made her Broadway debut in 1957 when she starred as Bert Lahr's wife in the French farce, Hotel Paradiso. In 1960, she returned to Broadway as Joan Plowright's mother in the season's most acclaimed drama, A Taste of Honey, by Shelagh Delaney. One year later, she starred on Broadway in her first musical, Anyone Can Whistle. Lansbury returned to New York in triumph in 1966 as Mame, for which she won the first of her unprecedented four Tony Awards as Best Actress in a Musical. She received the others as the Madwoman of Chaillot in Dear World (1968), as Mama Rose in the 1974 revival of Gypsy and as Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd (1979). From 1984-1996 she starred as Jessica Fletcher, mystery-writing amateur sleuth, on "Murder, She Wrote," for which she won four Golden Globe Awards. In 1982, she was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame, and in 1994 she was named a Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. Angela and her husband Peter were married in 1949. They worked together until Peter's death in January 2003. Angela has three grown children, Deirdre, Anthony and David, and three grandchildren.

In April, it was announced that a revival of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC is headed for Broadway. The production will be directed by Tony Award-winner Trevor Nunn, and will utilize the creative team behind the recent London production, which opened at the Menier Chocolate Factory before transferring to the Garrick Theatre on December 3, 2008.

The production will be produced by David Babani for Chocolate Factory Productions; Andrew Fell; and the Frankel, Viertel, Baruch, Routh Group. In addition to Director Nunn, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC will include Musical Supervision by Carolyn Humphris, Musical Direction by Tom Murray, Choreography by Lynne Page, General Management by Frankel/Green Theatrical Management and Casting by Tara Rubin Casting.

This will be the first Broadway Revival of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC. The show made its premiere on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre on Feb. 25, 1973. The cast featured Len Cariou as Fredrik, Hermione Gingold as Madame Armfeldt, and Glynis Johns as Desiree. The score to the popular Sondheim musical includes the often-recorded "Send in the Clowns" and "Every Day a Little Death."

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.