George Street Playhouse has announced full casting for New Year's Eve a world premiere from the pen of Arthur Laurents. George Street Playhouse Artistic Director David Saint will direct a starry cast comprised of WALTER BELENKY, Keith Carradine, Peter Frechette, Marlo Thomas and NATASHA GREGSON WAGNER. New Year's Eve marks the ninth collaboration between Saint and Laurents at the New Brunswick Playhouse, and the return engagement of Ms. Thomas, who starred in Elaine May's Roger is Dead last season.
"When
Arthur Laurents attended
George Street Playhouse's premiere of Roger is Dead, by
Elaine May, he - like everyone else in the audience - fell in love with
Marlo Thomas," said
David Saint. "After meeting her in her dressing room after the show, Arthur turned to me and said ‘she's perfect for my new play - and I want her to premiere it here at
George Street.' "
Mr. Laurents describes his new comedy with this question: "What does a smart, funny star do when everything is turning into a bad joke on her?" New Year's Eve will run April 14 through May 10, with Opening Night set for Friday, April 17, 2009.
Regarding the casting of Natasha Gregson Wagner, Mr. Saint remarked "It was such an amazing set of coincidences to be coming directly from a rehearsal of
West Side Story to the audition - and who should walk in but Natasha, the stunningly beautiful daughter of
Natalie Wood." Miss Wood starred in the movie versions of both
West Side Story (as Maria) and Gypsy (
Gypsy Rose Lee), both by Mr. Laurents. The Broadway revival of
West Side Story, directed by Mr. Laurents, with Mr. Saint as Associate Director, opens this week.
Tickets for New Year's Eve range from $2 8 to $66. Discounts are available for senior citizens with proof of age, and students with valid ID. Combination packages, including dinner and premium seating, are also available. Information and tickets can be obtained through the Box Office at 732-246-7717 or at the GSP website www.GSPonline.org.
George Street Playhouse is located at 9 Livingston Avenue in the heart of New Brunswick's dining and entertainment district, steps away from fine restaurants as well as convenient parking and public transportation. Groups of ten or more are eligible for discounted tickets. For further information contact the GSP Group Sales Department at 732-846-2895, ext. 134, or mbergamo@georgestplayhouse..org.
The design team for New Year's Eve consists of scenic designer
James Youmans (from the recent Broadway revival of
West Side Story), lighting designer Joe Saint (from The Seafarer, seen=2 0at GSP earlier this season), costume designer
Suzy Benzinger making her
George Street Playhouse debut, and sound designer
Christopher J. Bailey, who designed both lights and sound for this season's production of Sight Unseen.
Walter Belenky has appeared on stages from coast to coast in productions such as The Adding Machine at
La Jolla Playhouse to Marvel and Flung at the Huntington Theatre in Boston. Other credits include a workshop of Kindness by
Adam Rapp for
Playwrights Horizons, The Baltimore Waltz with The Animus Ensemble, and the films Stuck on You, They Made America and Pretender's Dance.
Keith Carradine was recently seen off-Broadway in Mindgame, made his Broadway debut in Hair and also appe ared in Foxfire, The
Will Rogers Follies (Tony nomination) and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. His film credits include "Nashville," "Choose Me," "Southern Comfort" and "Pretty Baby." The singer-songwriter received an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for "I'm Easy," which was heard in the film "Nashville."
Peter Frechette has appeared extensively off-Broadway, on Broadway and regionally, as well as in sketch comedy and as a singer in New York bars and comedy clubs. Recent films include Miracle at St. Anna, The Savages and Inside Man. He has many TV credits, including regular roles on such series as Profiler, Matt Waters, New York News, Picket Fences, Dream Street and thirtysomething (for which he received an Emmy nomination). He has also received an Obie, the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Theater World and Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle awards, two Lortel nominations (The Dazzle and Valhalla) and two Tony nominations (Eastern Standard and Our Country's Good).
Marlo Thomas has appeared on Broadway in The Shadow Box, Social Security, and Thieves. Off-Broadway: The Vagina Monologues,The Guys and The Exonerated. National Tour: Six Degrees of Separation. Also performed The Exonerated in Chicago and Boston. Regional theatre includes Paper Doll, Pittsburgh Public Theater; Woman in Mind, Berkshire Theatre Festival; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Hartford Stage; The Effect Of Gamma Rays...,
Cleveland Playhouse. London West End: Barefoot in the Park. She has appeared in more than a dozen distinguished television movies, including Nobody's Child, for which she w on the Emmy for Best Dramatic Actress. Numerous TV guest appearances including Ugly Betty, Friends and Law & Order. Her films include Playing Mona Lisa, The Real Blonde, Dust and Stardust, In the Spirit, Thieves and Jenny. Ms. Thomas created the Free to Be...You and Me TV specials, books and records, as well as her best-sellers, The Right Words at the Right Time I & II. She starred in and produced the groundbreaking, That Girl, television's first comedy series about a single, independent woman. Ms. Thomas has been honored with four Emmys, nine Emmy nominations, the Peabody, Golden Globe, Grammy and has been inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame. Ms. Thomas is happy to be returning to
George Street Playhouse after performing last season in
Elaine May's comedy Roger Is Dead.
Natasha Gregson Wagner has an extensive list of credits in both television and film. Television credits include a recurring role on Chicago Hope, as well as guest appearances in House, MD, CSI: Crime Scene20Investigation, ER, Cold Case and Ally McBeal among others, and in the upcoming film The Funeral Party. Other film credits include David Lynch's Lost Highway, Dogtown, Two Girls and a Guy, Another Day in Paradise, High Fidelity, Wonderland and others.
Arthur Laurents (Playwright) is the author of plays such as Home of the Brave, The Time of the Cuckoo, A Clearing in the Woods, The Radical Mystique, My Good Name, Big Potato, Jolson Sings Again, as well as Claudia Lazlo, The Vibrator, Attacks on the Heart and 2 Lives, which premiered at
George Street Playhouse. Also at GSP, Mr. Laurents revised and directed his Tony Award-winning musical Hallelujah, Baby!, as well as Jorge Accame's Venecia starring
Chita Rivera. Among his musicals are Do I Hear a Waltz? (a revised version was produced at GSP), Nick and Nora, Gypsy and
West Side Story. His screenplays include The Snake Pit, Rope, Caught, Anastasia, Bonjour Tristesse, The Way We Were and The Turning Point. The last two screenplays were novels as well. Among the musicals Mr. Laurents has directed are I Can Get It For You Wholesale, Birds of Paradise, The Madwoman of Central Park West and La Cage aux Folles. He is currently represented on Broadway as director and author of the revival of
West Side Story. Among his own plays and musicals that he has directed are: Invitation to a March, The Enclave, Anyone Can Whistle and Gypsy with
Angela Lansbury,
Tyne Daly and most recently, the Tony Award winning revival with
Patti LuPone. His memoir, Original Story By was published by Knopf, and is now available in paperback. In addition, Backstage Books has recently published Selected Plays of
Arthur Laurents. His latest book, Mainly On Directing
West Side Story, Gypsy, and Other Musicals, will be published in April 2009.
Now in his eleventh season at
George Street Playhouse, Artistic Director
David Saint has directed twenty-six mainstage productions, most rece ntly
Matthew Arkin in Donald Marguilies' Sight Unseen,
Jack Klugman and
Paul Dooley in
Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys;
William Finn's landmark musical Falsettos, the film noir musical Gunmetal Blues, Inspecting Carol, the world premiere of
Arthur Laurents' 2 Lives, The Last Five Years, Lend Me a Tenor, the world premiere of Charles Evered's Celadine starring
Amy Irving and
Jonathan Larson's tick, tick...BOOM!. Mr. Saint's time in New Brunswick has been marked by collaborations with such artists as
Uta Hagen,
A.R. Gurney,
Arthur Laurents,
George Grizzard,
Chita Rivera,
Eli Wallach,
Frances Sternhagen,
Anne Meara,
Dan Lauria,
Stephen Sondheim and
Jack Klugman.
An ardent advocate for new work, Mr. Saint created the Next Stage Festival of New Plays at
George Street where the recent Broadway hit and Tony Award-winner Proof by
David Auburn was developed before moving on to Manhattan Theatre Club and Broadway, becoming the longest-running play in two decades and the most produced play in the nation during the 2002-03 season. Another success story emerging from the Festival is The Spitfire Grill, which won the prestigious
Richard Rodgers Award for New American Musicals and was produced under Mr. Saint's direction at
Playwrights Horizons in New York, winning Drama Desk, Drama-League and Outer Critics Circle award nominations, before becoming one of the most produced plays in the nation during the 2004-05 season, generating more than 100 productions across the country.
Mr. Saint has directed on Broadway, off-Broadway, and at most of the leading regional theatres around the country. Recent credits include
A.R. Gurney's new play The Fourth Wall at
Primary Stages, starring
Sandy Duncan, as well as the world premiere of
Mark St. Germain's The God Committee at Barrington Stage. Other regional credits include Manhattan Theatre Club,
Playwrights Horizons, McCarter Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival,
Paper Mill Playhouse, Bay Street Theatre, Walnut Street Theatre, and Seattle Repertory Theatre, where he served as Associate Artistic Director to
Daniel Sullivan, directing many productions including the West Coast premiere of
Wendy Wasserstein's An Am erican Daughter. Other productions include two
Anne Meara plays: After-Play, in New York and Los Angeles, and Down the Garden Paths, which began at
George Street and moved to New York; the national tour of The Cocktail Hour, with
Fritz Weaver and
Elizabeth Wilson; Fame: The Musical; The Fourth Wall, with
Betty Buckley and
George Segal; Fourplay, with
Elaine May and
Gene Saks; Sons and Fathers, with
Holly Hunter; and the West Coast premiere of Lend Me a Tenor, as well as world premieres by such authors as
Jonathan Larson, Peter Parnell,
Jonathan Marc Sherman,
Aaron Sorkin, and others. Mr. Saint was recently a panelist for the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative for the Pew Charitable Trust, has taught at Bennington College, and directed the short film Celebrity. He is the recipient of the
Alan Schneider Award,
Helen Hayes Award, Los Angeles Drama Critics Award, and several Drama-Logue Awards.
Under the leadersh ip of Artistic Director
David Saint,
George Street Playhouse has become a nationally recognized theatre, presenting an acclaimed mainstage season while providing an artistic home for established and emerging theatre artists. Founded in 1974, the Playhouse has been well represented by numerous productions both on and off-Broadway - recent productions include
Anne Meara's Down the Garden Paths, the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Drama League nominated production of The Spitfire Grill and the recent Broadway hit and Tony® and Pulitzer Prize winning play Proof by
David Auburn, which was developed at GSP during the 1999 Next Stage Series of new plays. In addition to its mainstage season, GSP's Touring Theatre features four issue-oriented productions that tour to more than 250 schools in the tri-state area, and is seen by more than 70,000 students annually.
George Street Playhouse programming is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, and by funds from the National Endowment for the Arts. Continental Airlines is the official airline of
George Street Playhouse.
George Street Playhouse is grateful for the generous support of exclusive print media sponsor The Star Ledger.
Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.
