Broadway Across America (John Gore, Thomas B. McGrath, Beth Williams), Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, Candy Spelling and The Weinstein Company will present the first-ever Broadway revival of PROMISES, PROMISES this spring at the Broadway Theater (1681 Broadway). Previews will begin on Sunday, March 28th, 2010 with an opening night slated for Sunday, April 25th, 2010. The musical is written by legends Neil Simon (book), Burt Bacharach (music), and Hal David (lyrics). Emmy Award winner Sean Hayes will make his Broadway debut starring in the role of Chuck Baxter opposite Tony and Emmy Award winner Kristin Chenoweth, returning to Broadway as Fran Kubelik. Tony and Emmy Award winner Rob Ashford will also make his Broadway directorial debut and choreograph. More casting and creative team members will be announced in the near future.
Based on the 1960 Academy Award-winning
Billy Wilder film The Apartment that starred
Jack Lemmon and
Shirley MacLaine, PROMISES, PROMISES tells the story of the Consolidated Life Insurance Company and Chuck Baxter, one of its charming young employees. In an effort to advance at the company, Chuck lends executives his apartment for their extramarital romantic trysts. But things become slightly complicated when Fran Kubelik, the object of Chuck's affection, becomes the mistress of one of his executives. With Simon's funny and touching book and Bacharach and David's hit-packed score ("I'll Never Fall In Love Again," "Promises, Promises," and "Knowing When to Leave"), PROMISES, PROMISES is a unique and popular part of the musical theatre canon that will now return to the stage for the first time in over forty years, for a new generation of theatergoers.
The original production of PROMISES, PROMISES debuted on Broadway in 1968 at the Shubert Theatre and ran for 1,268 performances through January 1, 1972. The production was nominated for eight Tony awards, winning for Best Actor in a Musical (
Jerry Orbach) and Best Featured Actress in a Musical (
Marian Mercer). The original cast recording was honored with a Grammy Award in 1969.
BIOGRAPHIES
Sean Hayes (Chuck Baxter) made his New York stage debut in Damn Yankees at City Center Encores. His films include The Bucket List, Pieces of April, The cat in the Hat (as the voice of the Fish), Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss, and Cats and Dogs (as the voice of Mr. Tinkles). He has won four Screen Actors Guild Awards, a TV Guide Award and an American Comedy Award. Hayes won an Emmy (and was nominated six times) for his portrayal of "Jack" on "Will & Grace." He starred as Jerry Lewis in the television movie "Martin & Lewis."
Kristin Chenoweth (Fran Kubelik). Broadway credits include You're a Good Man,
Charlie Brown (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Awards); Wicked (Tony nomination); Steel Pier (
Theatre World Award); and Epic Proportions. Other NY Theater includes Love, Loss, and What I Wore, The Apple Tree, Scapin, A New Brain, Dames at Sea, The Fantasticks, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever and Strike Up the Band. Film work includes You Again (2010), Bewitched, The Pink Panther, RV, Running With Scissors, Stranger Than Fiction, Deck the Halls and Four Christmases. TV includes the upcoming Lifetime movie "The Twelve Men of Christmas," "Glee," "Ugly Betty," "The West Wing," "The Music Man," "Annie," "Frasier," "Sesame Street," "Kristin," and two seasons as Olive Snook on the ABC dramedy "Pushing Daisies" for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy. Her extensive concert career includes performances at the National Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Hollywood Bowl, London's "Divas at Donmar" series,
Walt Disney Concert Hall,
Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Washington National Opera and the Metropolitan Opera House. This winter she will be part of
Il Divo's limited-run holiday tour. Albums: Let Yourself Go, As I Am, A Lovely Way To Spend Christmas. Her book, A Little Bit Wicked debuted at #12 on the NYT Hardcover Non-Fiction Best Seller list.
Rob Ashford (Direction and Choreography). Mr. Ashford's Broadway credits include Cry-Baby (Tony nomination), Curtains (Tony nomination), The Wedding Singer (Tony nomination), Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002 Tony Award, Best Choreography), and The Boys From Syracuse (Roundabout). In London, the current production of A Streetcar Named Desire starring
Rachel Weisz at the
Donmar Warehouse, Parade at the
Donmar Warehouse (Olivier nominations for Direction and Choreography), Evita (Olivier nomination), Guys and Dolls (Olivier nomination), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Olivier nomination), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Once in a Lifetime (
National Theatre). Other credits include Parade (
Mark Taper Forum), Candide (La Scala, Milan, Chatelet, Paris), Tenderloin, Bloomer Girl, A Connecticut Yankee... and Pardon My English (Encores!). He provided choreography for the film Beyond the Sea directed by and starring
Kevin Spacey. Mr. Ashford just won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography for his work on the 81st Annual Academy Awards.
Broadway Across America (Producer) is owned and operated by British theatre producer
John Gore (CEO) and entertainment industry veteran
Thomas B. McGrath (Chairman).
Broadway Across America presents first-class touring Broadway musicals and plays, family productions and other live events throughout a network of 40 North American cities. Under the supervision of
Beth Williams (COO & Head of Production),
Broadway Across America is also dedicated to the development and production of new and diverse live theatre for productions on Broadway, across America and throughout the world. Recent productions include Hair, West Side Story, Memphis and the West End production of Breakfast At Tiffany's. Upcoming Broadway productions include the return of
Irving Berlin's White Christmas, Million Dollar Quartet and Minsky's. Touring productions include Nickelodeon's Storytime Live featuring Dora the Explorer and Dreamgirls. For more information on
Broadway Across America or to purchase tickets through an authorized agent go to BroadwayAcrossAmerica.com.
Craig Zadan and
Neil Meron (Producers) are the producers of critically-acclaimed feature films and television projects, although they began their careers in the theater working for
Joseph Papp at the New York Shakespeare Festival. In total, their movies have garnered six Academy Awards, five Golden Globes, eleven Emmy Awards and two Peabody Awards. Their television movies have accrued a total of 69 Emmy nominations. Their award-winning feature films include: Hairspray, Chicago (6 Oscars including Best Picture), The Bucket List, and Footloose. Their award-winning television films include: "Gypsy," "Rodgers And Hammerstein's Cinderella," "Annie," "
Meredith Willson's The Music Man," "Life With
Judy Garland: Me And My Shadows," "Martin And Lewis," "Serving In Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story," "
The Beach Boys: An American Family," "Brian's Song," "
The Three Stooges," "The Reagans," and "Living Proof." Their recent movie, "A Raisin In The Sun" won the broadcast night with outstanding ratings, and was nominated for the Television Critics Award as Best Movie or Miniseries of the Year. "Raisin" was also nominated for three Primetime Emmys, including Outstanding Television Movie, and was nominated for a Golden Globe. Their next event film for TV is the first movie version of the beloved musical, "Peter Pan," for ABC and Sony. Their upcoming feature films include the new version of Footloose with
Chace Crawford, and a contemporary version of Damn Yankees with
Jim Carrey and
Jake Gyllenhaal. For television, their hit TV series "Drop Dead Diva" will begin its second season on Lifetime and they are currently working on a new ground-breaking dramatic TV series which they are producing with
Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks for Showtime about the behind-the-scenes creation of a Broadway musical.
Candy Spelling (Producer) is making her Broadway debut as a producer of Promises, Promises, having long been a supporter of the arts. Ms. Spelling is the author of the recent bestseller Stories From Candyland. She is a blogger for the Huffington Post, momlogic.com and other media outlets, writes a column for the Los Angeles Confidential, provides entertainment news reports for BBC radio, and is working on a new series for E! Entertainment Network. This year she was named "Ambassador For Tourism" for Los Angeles, and was invited to join the Board of Directors for L.A. INC., the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau. She is currently a Commissioner for the Board of Recreation and Parks for the City of Los Angeles and was instrumental in creating the first non-profit Parks Foundation in L.A. She is also a member of the L.A. Coliseum Commission and she is an active board member of L.A.'s Best, the after-school enrichment program that serves children in need throughout the city, in partnership with the L.A. Unified School District, the City of Los Angeles and the private sector.
The Weinstein Company (Producer) Bob and
Harvey Weinstein are co-chairmen of
The Weinstein Company. They previously founded and ran
Miramax Films which, during their tenure, was nominated for 249 Oscars and won 60. Bob and Harvey's current films include: Nine, directed by
Rob Marshall and starring
Daniel Day Lewis, Penélope Cruz,
Nicole Kidman,
Kate Hudson,
Marion Cotillard,
Sophia Loren,
Judi Dench, and
Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson;
John Hillcoat's The Road with
Viggo Mortensen and
Charlize Theron;
Tom Ford's directorial debut A Single Man starring
Colin Firth and
Julianne Moore;
Sam Taylor Wood's feature debut Nowhere Boy; and the upcoming The King's Speech with
Geoffrey Rush and
Colin Firth. The Weinsteins have produced several award winning shows on Broadway and in the West End, including: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Producers, Frost/Nixon, Rock N' Roll, August: Osage County, Boeing-Boeing, The Seagull, God Of Carnage, Exit The King, West Side Story, You're Welcome America: A Final Night With George W Bush, Hair and upcoming,
The Addams Family.
