Patti LuPone to Star in HBO Pilot PEOPLE IN NEW JERSEY

The Hollywood Reporter reports exclusively that Broadway vet Patti LuPone has signed on for Lorne Michael's HBO pilot PEOPLE IN NEW JERSEY. The actress will join Sarah Silverman and Topher Grace on the half-hour comedy project from Girls scribe Bruce Eric Kaplan.

According to the report, the pilot will center on a grown brother and sister living in New Jersey and facing the struggles of everyday life. It's described as "a hilarious, poignant look at life today as seen through the prism of a brother and sister living in New Jersey. They each struggle to get through the day, asking themselves the big questions, little questions and everything in between."

Grace will take on the role of Carl Levin, "an affable locksmith who has a definite idea of how things and people should be and when the world doesn't conform to his vision, he resists mightily. He is warm and thinks of others, but at the same time is rigid and hates change. Carl is single and dating constantly."

Silverman will play his sister Melanie, "a former management consultant who now works part-time at a department store. It is only temporary but doesn't feel that way. Melanie is involved with a man in what her mother describes as a "half-relationship." Melanie is starting to wonder if she deserves something better. She can be extremely driven and fights for what she believes in. She is a closet optimist."

LuPone will play their widowed mother Rachel who "focuses a lot of her energy on worrying about her children and why neither has settled down in a relationship. Rachel is all opinions. Both her kids have a habit of blurting out whatever it is they are thinking and clearly, they got this from her."

Paul Feig will helm the pilot as well as executive produce.

LuPone has won Tony Awards for her role as Eva Peron in 1979's Evita and as Mama Rose in 2008's Gypsy: A Musical Fable. She will soon be seen on the new season of FX's American Horror Story: Coven and has appeared on the small screen in Army Wives, 30 Rock and Frasier, for which she won an Emmy nomination as a guest actress.

Photo Credit: Jennifer Broski