Nancy Opel, Matthew Saldivar & David Josefsberg to Join Tony Danza & Rob McClure in Paper Mill's HONEYMOON IN VEGAS; Full Cast Announced

Paper Mill Playhouse will launch its 75th Anniversary Season with the world-premiere, Broadway-bound musical Honeymoon in Vegas, based on the Castle Rock Entertainment motion picture of the same title. Honeymoon in Vegas features music and lyrics by Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown (The Last Five Years, Parade, 13) and book by Andrew Bergman (director and screenwriter of the film). Gary Griffin (The Color Purple) will direct with original choreography by Denis Jones. Honeymoon in Vegas will star television, screen and stage icon Tony Danza (Who's the Boss?, Taxi, The Producers, A View From The Bridge, The Iceman Cometh) as Tommy Korman, a widowed and unscrupulous gambler looking for another shot at love. Leading the company are Tony nominee Rob McClure (Chaplin) as Jack Singer, Brynn O'Malley (Annie) as Betsy Nolan, Tony nominee Nancy Opel (Memphis, Urinetown) as Bea Singer, Matthew Saldivar (Peter and the Starcatcher) as Johnny Sandwich and David Josefsberg (Wedding Singer) as Tony Rocky/Roy Bacon. Honeymoon in Vegas will play the Millburn, New Jersey theater from September 26 through October 27. The official opening night is Sunday, October 6, 2013, at 7:00pm. Honeymoon in Vegas is generously supported by a grant from The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation. Paper Mill Playhouse's 75th Anniversary Season is proudly sponsored by Investors Bank.

Honeymoon in Vegas, based on the hit movie, is an insanely funny musical that tells the tale of Jack Singer (McClure), a guy with an extraordinary fear of marriage, who finally overcomes his phobia and goes to Las Vegas to wed his longtime girlfriend, Betsy (O'Malley). Enter Tommy Korman (Danza), a widowed and unscrupulous gambler looking for another shot at love. Tommy spots Betsy, who bears an uncanny resemblance to his late wife, and the game is afoot. The author of the comedy classics The In-Laws and The Freshman and the Tony-winning composer of The Last Five Years team up to create a sidesplitting musical with all the glitz, fun, and brassy glamor of a night out in Las Vegas.

Honeymoon in Vegas will be performed eight times a week, Wednesday through Sunday (altered first week schedule). Performance Schedule: Wednesday at 7:30pm, Thursday at 1:30pm and 7:30pm, Friday at 8:00pm, Saturday at 1:30pm and 8:00pm and Sunday at 1:30pm and 7:00pm. Tickets are on sale now and range from $27 to $98. Tickets may be purchased by calling 973.376.4343, at the Paper Mill Playhouse Box Office at 22 Brookside Drive in Millburn, or online at www.papermill.org. Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express accepted. Groups of ten or more can receive up to a 40% discount on tickets and should call 973.315.1680.

"I'm excited to be back on stage in a musical. I love Paper Mill Playhouse-it's a beautiful theater," remarked Tony Danza. "I've been working on this project for a long time and can't wait for people to see this funny story and hear Jason Robert Brown's great score!"

Honeymoon in Vegas will star television, screen and stage icon Tony Danza as Tommy Korman. Perhaps best known for starring on some of television's most beloved and long-running series, including Taxi (1978-1983) and Who's the Boss? (1984-1992), Tony Danza has also established himself as a stage and screen star, and he is indisputably one of America's most iconic performers.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Danza received a wrestling scholarship to the University of Dubuque in Iowa, where he earned a bachelor's degree in history education. Discovered at a boxing gymnasium in New York, Danza was ultimately cast in the critically acclaimed ABC series Taxi, earning him a place in television history. He followed Taxi with a starring role in the classic ABC comedy series Who's the Boss?, which ran for eight seasons.

Eventually Mr. Danza explored his love for the stage, and among his many stage credits are his exciting run on Broadway in Mel Brooks's hit musical The Producers, playing Max Bialystock (2006-2007), and his reprise of the role in the Las Vegas production at Paris Las Vegas (2007). For his theatrical debut in Wrong Turn at Lungfish (1993), he earned an Outer Critic's Circle Award nomination. Other stage credits include the critically acclaimed The Iceman Cometh, opposite Kevin Spacey, Arthur Miller's Tony Award-winning play A View from the Bridge, and I Remember You.

Among Danza's previous television experience are his role as attorney Joe Celano on the CBS dramatic series Family Law (2000-2002), his Emmy-nominated performance on David E. Kelley's award-winning series The Practice (1998), and ABC's The Tony Danza Show, a talk show that was broadcast live in New York from 2004 to 2006. He also starred in and executive-produced the ABC comedy series Hudson Street, NBC's The Tony Danza Show, and has hosted Saturday Night Live several times.

Amongst Danza's big-screen credits are his roles in Walt Disney's Angels in the Outfield, She's Out of Control, The Hollywood Knights, and A Brooklyn State of Mind.

In 2009-2010, Mr. Danza took on his most challenging role yet-teaching tenth-grade English at Philadelphia's Northeast High School. His amazing experience working as a real teacher was taped and aired on A&E in the form of the critically acclaimed seven-part documentary series entitled Teach. In September 2012, Crown Publishers (a division of Random House) released Tony's book, I'd Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had: My Year as a Rookie Teacher at Northeast High, a much buzzed about and critically acclaimed reflection of his experience teaching for a year. The book premiered on the New York Times Best Sellers list at number 16. The paperback edition will be available September 2013.

Danza's next big-screen role will be playing Joseph Gordon Levitt's father in Levitt's much buzzed about directorial debut, entitled Don Jon. The film stars Levitt, Danza, Julianne Moore, and Scarlett Johansson. The film opens on September 27, 2013, as Honeymoon in Vegas begins preview performances.

Honeymoon in Vegas features a cast of Broadway veterans and Paper Mill Playhouse favorites. Rob McClure (Jack Singer) received 2013 Tony, Drama League, Astaire, and Outer Critics Circle nominations, and won the TheatreWorld and Clive Barnes Awards for his performance as Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin The Musical on Broadway. Prior to that he charmed audience and critics alike with another title role, leading the cast of Where's Charley? at Encores. A two-time Barrymore Award winner, McClure starred on Broadway as Princeton/Rod in the Tony Award-winning musical Avenue Q. He made his Broadway debut in the 2002 Broadway revival of I'm Not Rappaport (direct from Paper Mill Playhouse) alongside Judd Hirsch and Ben Vereen. McClure won a Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Award in 2000, participated in Paper Mill's Summer Musical Theatre Conservatory, appeared in the New Voices concert, served as a teaching artist for Paper Mill's Arts Education programs, worked in the theater's box office and appeared on the mainstage in I'm Not Rappaport and Carousel. Brynn O'Malley (Betsy Nolan) made her Broadway debut as Belle in Disney's Beauty and Beast and went on to play supporting roles in Wicked, Sunday in the Park with George and Hairspray. Most recently O'Malley appeared on the Broadway stage in the 2013 revival of Annie as Grace Farrell. Her other stage credits include Kate Monster in Las Vegas' Avenue Q and Alice in Roundabout Theater Company's Death Takes a Holiday. O'Malley's television credits include The Big C, Royal Pains, A Gifted Man and Smash. O'Malley received critical acclaim for her portrayal of Esther Smith in Meet Me in St. Louis and Gabriella inBoeing-Boeing at Paper Mill Playhouse.

Tony nominated actress Nancy Opel makes her Paper Mill Playhouse debut portraying Bea Singer. Her recent credits include Broadway's Memphis, Paradise Found (London) and Off Broadway's The Toxic Avenger (Drama Desk, Drama League, Outer Critics and Lucille Lortel nominations). Her Broadway credits include Gypsy, Fiddler on the Roof, Urinetown (Tony nomination), Triumph of Love, Anything Goes, Sunday in the Park with George, Evita and others. David Josefsberg returns to Paper Mill to play Tony Rocky/Roy Bacon following his critically acclaimed performance as Max in Lend Me a Tenor last season. On Broadway, Mr. Josefsberg appeared in LES MISERABLES, Grease and The Wedding Singer. Off Broadway Josefsberg appeared in Altar Boyz, Slut, and Rated P. Matthew Saldivar will play Johnny Sandwich. Saldivar burst onto the Broadway scene with a lead role in the musical adaptation of the 1998 film The Wedding Singer. His other Broadway credits include Kenickie inGrease, Steve Hubbell in A Streetcar Named Desire and Black Stache in Peter and the Starcatcher.

Leading the ensemble is Catherine Ricafort as Mahi, and rounding out the cast are: Matt Allen, Stanley Bahorek, Tracee Beazer, Grady McLeod Bowman, Barry Busby, Daniel J. Edwards, Paige Faure, Leslie Donna Flesner, Gaelen Gilliland, Sarah Marie Jenkins, Max Kumangai, Raymond Lee, George Merrick, Mara Newbery and Katie Webber.

Photo by Peter James Zielinski