What would you do if the gorgeous blonde you discovered ended up being a lot smarter than you gave her credit for? That's the hilarious question at hand in the brazen American screwball comedy Born Yesterday, onstage now through November 12 at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast - featuring Andrea Burns - in action below!
Kicking off the Theatre's 2017/18 season, the production stars Drama Desk Award winner Andréa Burns as ex-showgirl Billie Dawn, fresh off her recent Broadway performance as Gloria Fajardo in On Your Feet!, the musical based on the life and music of Emilio and Gloria Estefan. Broadway audiences also know her as Daniela, the saucy hairdresser from the original cast of Lin Manuel-Miranda's In The Heights, or from her other Broadway roles in The Nance, Beauty and the Beast, The Full Monty and The Ritz.
Written by visionary playwright Garson Kanin and known for popular 1950 and 1993 film adaptations by the same name, Born Yesterday is a 1946 Broadway hit that tells the story of Harry Brock, a hot-tempered and corrupt tycoon who is determined to make a name for himself in the power-driven city of Washington D.C. But when he realizes his ex-showgirl girlfriend Billie isn't quite cutting it in highbrow society, Harry schemes to transform blonde bombshell Billie into a cultured and classy woman - with a little help from friends in low places. In a deliriously funny turn of events, Harry discovers that he may have gotten more than he bargained for.
"Ms. Burns and the actors who play the colorful cast of characters that inhabit her Washington D.C. hotel suite are under the direction of Peter Flynn, who has helmed previous productions at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre including Kiss Me, Kate, Other Desert Cities, Sleuth and the Carbonell Award-winning Man of La Mancha," said the Theatre's producing director and chief executive Andrew Kato.
With a cast of 12, the play also stars Dominic Comperatore as Harry, known for his roles in the Tony Award-winning revival of A View From the Bridge, the critically acclaimed off Broadway revival of Lost in Yonkers, Sir Peter Hall's production of Romeo and Juliet at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles and Steven Soderbergh's WWII drama The Good German opposite George Clooney.
Broadway's Darian Dauchan portrays the play's other leading man: journalist Paul Verrall, hired by Brock to educate Billie. In addition to numerous TV and film credits, Dauchan has appeared both on Broadway in On the Twentieth Century and off-Broadway with the Jean Cocteau Repertory and Classical Theatre of Harlem.
Born Yesterday showcases the work of several designers beloved for their work at the Theatre: award-winning scenic designer Anne Mundell (Disgraced, The Audience, Frost/Nixon, Glengarry Glen Ross and Other Desert Cities), lighting designer Cory Pattak (Me and My Girl, The Audience and Other Desert Cities) and Carbonell Award-winning resident sound designer Marty Mets, now in his seventh season with the Theatre.
The production features costumes by famed costume designer Franne Lee, who earned Tony Awards for costume and set design for Hal Prince's productions of Candide and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and an Emmy Award for production/costume design during the first five years of Saturday Night Live (including the looks for such beloved characters as the Bees, Coneheads, Blues Brothers and more), in addition to numerous other Broadway, TV and film credits.
Single tickets start at $58. For tickets and showtimes, call (561) 575-2223 or visit www.jupitertheatre.org.
Photo Credit: Alicia Donelan
Dominic Comperatore and Andrea Burns
Kim Cozort Kay and Andrea Burns
Jonathan Spivey, Andrea Burns and Dominic Comperatore
Dominic Comperatore (left) portrays a corrupt tycoon and Darian Dauchan (right) as the journalist hired to educate his girlfriend
Darian Dauchan stars as journalist Paul Verrall
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