|
Pajama Game Extends Limited Run with 5 Benefit Performances
By: BWW News Desk Apr. 06, 2006
The Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of The Pajama Game, starring Harry Connick Jr. and Kelli O'Hara, opened on Thursday, February 23rd to mostly positive reviews. The show, which began previews on Thursday, January 19th at the American Airlines Theatre (227 West 42nd Street), was originally scheduled to play a 20-week limited engagement through June 11th.
The Pajama Game, which stars Connick Jr. (composer/lyricist of Thou Shalt Not, South Pacific movie with Glenn Close) as Sid, O'Hara (The Light in the Piazza, Dracula) as Babe and Michael McKean (Hairspray) as Hines, also features Megan Lawrence (Urinetown, Les Miserables) as Gladys, Joyce Chittick (Sweet Charity, Wonderful Town) as Mae, Peter Benson (Wonderful Town, Little Me) as Prez, Michael McCormick (Gypsy, Marie Christine) as Pop and Ganzenlicher, Richard Poe (Fiddler on the Roof, 1776), and Roz Ryan (One Mo' Time, Chicago) as Mabel.
The Roundabout Theatre Company is producing the show with commercial producers, Jeffrey Richards, Scott Landis and James Fuld. Marshall (Two Gentlemen of Verona, Wonderful Town, Kiss Me, Kate) is the director and choreographer.
The Pajama Game opened at the St. James Theatre on May 13th, 1954 to run for 1,063 performances; the show won Tonys for Best Musical, for Bob Fosse's choreography and for Carol Haney as Best Featured Actress in a Musical (understudy Shirley MacLaine would become a star by going on for her one night). The show, which was directed by Abbott and Jerome Robbins, features such hits in its score as "Hernando's Hideaway," "Steam Heat," "There Once Was a Man," and "Hey There." The Pajama Game became a 1957 film starring Doris Day and was revived once before in 1973.
