Off-Broadway Hit BUYER & CELLAR Set for THIRTEEN's Theater Close-Up, 12/5

Theater Close-Up -- the unique collaboration between THIRTEEN and the large community of New York City area Off-Broadway and regional theaters - presents Jonathan Tolins' BUYER & CELLAR, captured live on-stage at Westport Country Playhouse, Monday, December 5 at 10 p.m. on THIRTEEN, with an encore presentation on Sunday, December 11 at 1 a.m. The play will also air Sunday December 25 at 10:30 p.m. on WLIW21. The play will be available for streaming beginning at the time of broadcast.

Opening in June 1931, the Playhouse was founded as a try-out house for Broadway transfers, evolving into an established stop on the summer stock circuit. Following a major renovation in 2005, the Playhouse became a year-round, producing theater. Their production of Buyer & Cellar was originally produced by Manhattan's Rattlestick Playwrights Theater.

The one-man production stars Michael Urie as Alex More, an out-of-work L.A. actor. In a city overflowing with struggling actors waiting for their big break, Alex finds himself with one of the oddest jobs of all: working for a certain beloved lady of stage and screen named Barbra who has a mall in the basement of her Mailbu mansion.

The estate's basement space has been turned into a private gallery of shops, displaying the star's lifelong accumulation of rare collectibles. Before long, Alex finds himself hired as the lone clerk for this most exclusive of shopping malls. One day, the lady herself comes downstairs to admire the merchandise, and an unexpected friendship begins. It seems to Alex like a real bond is forging, but will their relationship survive the move upstairs?

In addition to playing Alex, Michael Urie takes on an assortment of other characters in a delightful rollercoaster ride through fame, friendship and the outer limits of Hollywood celebrity.

Michael Urie, who won the Drama Desk, Clarence Derwent, Lucille Lortel, and LA Drama Critics awards for originating the role of Alex More, reprises his tour de force performance. The Westport staging is helmed by Stephen Brackett, who also directed the Off-Broadway show, as well as the original artistic team. The comedy is written by Jonathan Tolins.

Urie is well known for the role of Marc St. James on the award-winning "Ugly Betty" television series, and is currently appearing in "Homos, Or Everyone in America" at Labyrinth Theater Company.

Off-Broadway, he played iconic fashion designer Rudi Gernreich in "The Temperamentals," for which he received the Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, and Theatre World awards. On Broadway, he took on the role of Bud Frump in "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,"opposite Nick Jonas and Beau Bridges.

Urie's other television credits include"Modern Family,""Partners," "The Good Wife," "Hot in Cleveland," "Younger," and "Workaholics." He currently hosts the Logo series, "Cocktails & Classics," and directs the web series, "What's Your Emergency." Urie's films include "He's Way More Famous Than You," which he also directed.

Author Jonathan Tolins' plays, in addition to "Buyer & Cellar," are "The Twilight of the Golds," "If Memory Serves," "The Last Sunday in June," "Secrets of the Trade," and "The Forgotten Woman." He and his husband Robert Cary contributed additional material to the 2014 Broadway revival of "On the Town." His films are "The Twilight of the Golds" and "Martian Child," both co-written with Seth E. Bass. Television credits include "Queer as Folk," The Academy Awards, The Tony Awards, "Partners," "Grease Live!" (with Robert Cary), and "BrainDead." Tolins has written articles for Opera News, Time, and The Huffington Post, and is a panelist on the Metropolitan Opera Radio Quiz.

The original design and production team are reunited for the Westport production. They include Andrew Boyce, scenic design; Jessica Pabst, costume design; Eric Southern, lighting design; Stowe Nelson, sound design; Alex Basco Koch, projection design; Hannah Woodward, production stage manager; and Sam Pinkleton, musical staging.

Taping of the Westport Country Playhouse production for Theater Close-Up was made possible by Howard J. Aibel. Production Sponsor was Joyce Hergenhan; Corporate Production Sponsor was Fidelity.

Theater Close-Up will continue with Old Hats at a date to be announced.

Theater Close-Up on THIRTEEN has most recently featuredRasheeda Speakingfrom The New Group,Fashions for Men from Mint Theater, Wiesenthal filmed at the Acorn Theatre at Theatre Row, Repairing a Nation from Crossroads Theatre Company in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Incident at Vichy from Signature Theatre Company, The Woodsman recorded at New World Stages, and Buried Child from The New Group.

THIRTEEN is using its UNRIVALED expertise in producing national PBS arts programming - which began with such classic series as Theater in America, part of the award-winning series GREAT PERFORMANCES and special limited series such as Stage on Screen -- to provide New Yorkers with unparalleled access to one of the City's greatest underexposed cultural assets.

The production was directed for television by David Horn.

Mitch Owgang is producer; Bill O'Donnell is series producer; and David Horn is executive producer. Executive-in-charge for WNET is Neal Shapiro.

Major support for Theater Close-Up, Season Two is provided by the Howard Gilman Foundation, Bernard and Irene Schwartz, the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, the President's Innovation Fund and Leo Shull and Family.

Photo: CarolRosegg