Original 'AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY' Tony-Winning Cast Member Reed Returns For Final Performance

The New York Times reports that audience members attending the final performance of "AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY," the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by Tracy Letts that closed after the Sunday matinee today June 28th, were treated to an unexpected bonus.

Actress Rondi Reed, who originated the role of the brash and boozy Mattie Fae Aiken and won a Tony Award for her acclaimed performance, was called in to replace star Elizabeth Ashley, who was not feeling ill and was unable to perform.

Reed is currently appearing as Madame Morrible in WICKED on Broadway. She had to take the afternoon off from WICKED today to return to "AUGUST," but then headed back to the Gershwin Theater for a special Actors Fund performance of WICKED this evening, talk about 'Defying Gravity', Reed is a true theatrical wonder! To read the entire article in The New York Times click here.

Rondi Reed received a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play as well as a Drama Desk nomination for her performance in the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning August: Osage County. She also appeared on Broadway in The Rise and Fall of Little Voice and The Grapes of Wrath and off-Broadway in Picasso at the Lapin Agile. She is an ensemble member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where she has appeared in The Fall To Earth (Jefferson Award for Best Actress), Man From Nebraska, Cherry Orchard, Sideman, Beauty Queen of Leenane, among others. Film/TV credits include "Seinfeld," "The Practice," "Home Improvement," "Roseanne," "Nothing Sacred," "A Streetcar Named Desire" (CBS), "Wild Palms" (NBC), "Normal" (HBO), Jungle 2 Jungle, Fearless, The Astronaut's Wife.

Tracy Letts' AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, winner of five 2008 Tony Awards, as well as the 2008 Pulitzer Prize, and starredTony and Emmy award winner Phylicia Rashad, played its final performance today, Sunday, June 28th, 2009. It played 648 performances and 18 previews, surpassing The Heidi Chronicles, Master Class, The Real Thing, and Doubt, among many others, to become one of the longest running plays in Broadway history.

August: Osage County will begin its National Tour, starring Academy award winner Estelle Parsons, at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts on July 24th, 2009, before travelling to more than 18 locations all around the country. For more information and dates, please visitWWW.AUGUSTONBROADWAY.COM.

Winner of 20 major awards including the Grammy Award and three Tony Awards, WICKED is the untold story of the witches of Oz. Long before Dorothy drops in, two other girls meet in the land of Oz. One, born with emerald-green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. WICKED tells the story of their remarkable odyssey, how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.