Steel Magnolias Cast Announced

STEEL MAGNOLIAS, the play by Robert Harling, will open Monday, April 4, 2005 at the Lyceum Theatre (149 West 45th Street, east of Broadway). The production, directed by Jason Moore (Avenue Q), begins previews on March 15, 2005.

The Broadway premiere of STEEL MAGNOLIAS stars Delta Burke as Truvy, Christine Ebersole as M'Lynn, Rebecca Gayheart as Shelby, Marsha Mason as Ouiser, Lily Rabe as Annelle and Frances Sternhagen as Clairee.

An Off-Broadway hit in 1987, STEEL MAGNOLIAS played 1,126 performances at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, following its premiere at the WPA Theatre. STEEL MAGNOLIAS has since been performed in hundreds of productions around the world. The popular film version premiered in 1989.

STEEL MAGNOLIAS follows the lives of six indomitable Southern women as they share their personal triumphs, tragedies, beauty tips, recipes, and more then the occasional piece of scandalous gossip in Truvy's beauty shop in Chinquapin, Louisiana.

Set design is by Anna Louizos, costume design is by David Murin, lighting design is by Howell Binkley and hair design is by Bobby Grayson.

STEEL MAGNOLIAS will be produced on Broadway by Roy Gabay, Robyn Goodman, Ruth Hendel, Sharon Karmazin, Ergo Entertainment and Elsa Daspin Suisman/Martha R. Gasparian.

Tickets will go on sale through Telecharge on Monday, January 24th. Box office will open Monday, February 28th.

ABOUT THE CAST:

Delta Burke (Truvy), who made her Broadway debut last year in Thoroughly Modern Millie, is best known for playing self-interested, opinionated Suzanne Sugarbaker on the hit series, "Designing Women." Burke's other television credits include "Delta" and "Women of the House" (both produced by her own production company, Perseverance, Inc.), "DAG," "Filthy Rich," "First and Ten," as well as a recurring role on "Popular" and recent guest appearances on "Touched by an Angel," "Promised Land," "Any Day Now" and "Family Law." Her television film credits include "Going for Broke" and "Dangerous Child" (both for Lifetime Television), "Melanie Darrow" (also producer), "Maternal Instincts" (also executive producer) and "A Promise to Carolyn." Her feature film credits include "What Women Want," "Sordid Lives" and "Good Boy!" She is the author of "Delta Style: Eve Wasn't a Size Six and Neither Am I!," published by St. Martin's Press. After representing Florida in the Miss America Pageant and winning a talent scholarship, Burke attended a two-year study program at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. Since 1989, she has been married to actor Gerald McRaney.

Christine Ebersole (M'Lynn). Recently in Talking Heads at the Minetta Lane Theatre, Christine Ebersole received a 2003 Tony nomination for her performance in Lincoln Center's recent production of Dinner at Eight. She also received a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for her work as Dorothy Brock in the hit revival of 42nd Street. Ebersole's other Broadway credits include The Best Man, Getting Away with Murder, Harrigan 'n Hart, Camelot, Oklahoma!, On the Twentieth Century, I Love My Wife, Angel Street and the City Center Encores! productions of A Connecticut Yankee, Ziegfeld Follies of 1936, Lady in the Dark and Allegro.

Rebecca Gayheart (Shelby), who gained national recognition as "the Noxzema Girl," will step onto the stage fresh from her arc on the hit show "Nip/Tuck." Gayheart has many film and television credits including Jawbreaker, Shadow Hours, Dead Like Me, and "Beverly Hills 90210." A BACKSTAGE WEST Garland Award winner for her role as "Sunny" in The Last Night of Ballyhoo, this production will mark Gayheart's Broadway debut.

Marsha Mason (Ouiser) is a four-time Oscar nominee, having earned nods for lead roles in Cinderella Liberty, The Goodbye Girl, Chapter Two and Only When I Laugh. She has previously appeared on Broadway in Happy Birthday, Wanda June, The Good Doctor and The Night of the Iguana. Her other off-Broadway credits include Richard III, Old Times, The Big Love, Lake No Bottom, Love Letters, The Vagina Monologues and last season's Wintertime. In addition to her work as an actress, Mason owns the Resting in the River Farm, which produces herbal supplements and natural products.

Frances Sternhagen (Clairee). Recent credits include The Foreigner (Roundabout), Echoes of the War (Mint Theater) and Alan Bennett's Talking Heads (Outer Critics Circle Award) and on Broadway in Morning's at Seven, for which she received a Tony nomination. In 2000, she starred Off-Broadway in The Exact Center of the Universe. Nominated seven times for a Tony Award, she has received it twice, for The Good Doctor and The Heiress. Other Broadway appearances: Equus, On Golden Pond, Grownups, The Sign in Sydney Brustein's Window, Angel, You Can't Take It With You, Home Front. Other awards: the Clarence Derwent, the Delia Austrian Medal from the Drama League, two Drama Desks, two Obies, the Sydney Kingsley-Madge Evans Award, and she was just inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame. Off-Broadway: Mary Tyrone in Long Day's Journey Into Night, Miss Daisy in Driving Miss Daisy, Theresa in Remembrance, Margaret in A Perfect Ganesh.

Lily Rabe (Annelle) has been seen on screen in Never Again and Mona Lisa Smile. Her stage credits include Speaking Well of the Dead and The Crazy Girl. Steel Magnolias will mark Broadway debut.

Robert Harling (Playwright). received a BA from Northwestern University and a law degree from Tulane in 1977. Never practicing law, he came to New York to take up acting. After six years he decided to write a play, which was Steel Magnolias. Since writing the play, Harling has gone on to become one of the most successful screenwriters in Hollywood. Following the screen adaptation of Steel Magnolias, his other films include Soapdish, First Wives Club, and Laws of Attraction. He made his film directorial debut with The Evening Star, the sequel to the popular film, Terms of Endearment.

Jason Moore (Director). Broadway: Avenue Q (Tony nomination). Off-Broadway: Avenue Q, The Crumple Zone. Regional: Vices (Mixed Blood Theatre, Minnesota), Opening Day (Powerhouse Theatre, Los Angeles). Associate directing: Les Misérables (Broadway, national tour), Ragtime (Vancouver). Writer: The Floatplane Notebooks (Charlotte Repertory Theatre). TV: episodes of "Dawson's Creek," "Everwood" and "One Tree Hill." Upcoming projects: a live-action movie musical of Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame for ABC-TV. Jason is a graduate of Northwestern University.