Regine & Terrence Currier Will Not Transfer to Broadway with Kennedy Center's FOLLIES; Rehearsals Begin Aug. 5

As previously reported, The Kennedy Center's all-new, critically-acclaimed production of James Goldman and Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award-winning musical FOLLIES will transfer to Broadway this summer. FOLLIES will play a limited engagement at the Marquis Theatre, with dates to be announced shortly.  Rehearsals, it has just been revealed, will begin on August 5, 2011.

While an official casting announcement is forthcoming, including a detail of those who will be transferring with the production, a casting notice out today indicates that the roles of Salange La Fitte (played in the Kennedy Center by Régine), Hattie Walker (Linda Lavin), and Theodore Whitman (Terrence Currier) are open. Linda Lavin's departure was reported last week upon the announcement that she would simultaneously be starring in THE LYONS at the Vineyard Theatre.

As printed in the casting notice, the roles call for:

SOLANGE LA FITTE: (late 60's to early 70's) A star of the Follies who turned herself and her Frenchness into a brand, she's a perfume maven. Everything about her is a little bit too much, including her style and her accent. Sings "Ah, Paris". In good shape, must move well. A character. Strong character belt with solid low range.

HATTIE WALKER: (60s) Once and always a Broadway Baby. She lives life to its fullest. Married five times, a grandmother who has spent a lifetime in the theater and still knows how to land a number as well as a husband. Sings "Broadway Baby". Strong, brassy belt voice with very solid low range.

THEODORE WHITMAN: (60s) With wife Emily, once a part of a Follies song-and-dance team, now the owner of a dance school. Sings "Rain on the Roof" - Must be an excellent partner dancer. Light, charming Baritone."

The $7.3 million production, with book by James Goldman and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, concludes its highly successful six-week run in the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater today.

The musical, which opened May 21, features a cast of 41 and is directed by Eric Schaeffer with choreography by Warren Carlyle and music direction by James Moore. Moore also conducts the 28-piece Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra.

When former members of the "Weismann Follies" reunite on the eve of their theater's demolition, two couples remember their past and face the harsher realities of the present. Reminiscing of their younger selves and the years gone by, the crumbling theater brings back memories for both couples of good times and bad. Containing such well-known songs as "Broadway Baby," "I'm Still Here," "Too Many Mornings," "Could I Leave You?" and "Losing My Mind," Follies echoes the songs, exuberance and romance of the vaudeville days between the two World Wars.

Originally produced on Broadway by Harold Prince with orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick, FOLLIES opened on April 4, 1971 starring Dorothy Collins, John McMartin, Gene Nelson, and Alexis Smith. It ran for 522 performances in the Winter Garden Theatre and received seven Tony Awards ® , including Best Original Score.

Principal casting in Washington, D.C. includes Bernadette Peters as Sally Durant Plummer, Jan Maxwell as Phyllis Rogers Stone, Danny Burstein as Buddy Plummer, Ron Raines as Benjamin Stone, and Elaine Paige as Carlotta Campion. The production at the Kennedy Center also stars Terrence Currier as Theodore Whitman, Christian Delcroix as Young Buddy, Rosalind Elias as Heidi Schiller, Colleen Fitzpatrick as Dee Dee West, Lora Lee Gayer as Young Sally, Michael Hayes as Roscoe, Florence Lacey as Sandra Crane, Linda Lavin as Hattie Walker, Régine as Solange LaFitte, David Sabin as Dimitri Weismann, Kirsten Scott as Young Phyllis, Frederick Strother as Max Deems, Nick Verina as Young Ben, Susan Watson as Emily Whitman and Terri White as Stella Deems. Rounding out the ensemble is Lawrence Alexander, Brandon Bieber, John Carroll, Sara Edwards, Leslie Flesner, Jenifer Foote, Leah Horowitz, Suzanne Hylenski, Danielle Jordan, Joseph Kolinski, Amanda Larsen, Brittany Marcin, Edrie Means, Erin Moore, Pamela Otterson, Clifton Samuels, Kiira Schmidt, Brian Shepard, Sam Strasfeld, Amos Wolff and Ashley Yeater.

The Kennedy Center production features scenic design by Derek McLane, costume
design by Gregg Barnes, lighting design by Natasha Katz, sound design by Kai Harada and
the original orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick.