Tony Winner Cullum Joins August: Osage County for 5 Shows

August: Osage County, which recently celebrated it's 300th performance on August 14, 2008 is adding a new star to the mix for 5 days only. The New York Times reports that 2 time Tony-winner (Shenandoah and On the Twentieth Century), John Cullum will step in to play the role of Beverly Weston from September 16 to September 21 while Michael McGwire is on vacation.

Tracy Letts' August: Osage County, winner of the 2008 Tony, Pulitzer Prize, Drama Desk, New York Drama Critics' Circle, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Play - played its 300th performance on Wednesday, August 13th, 2008. The show is the longest running play of the 2007-2008 season.

Directed by Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award Winner Anna D. Shapiro, August: Osage County is the explosively funny comedy-drama focusing on the Weston family following the disappearance of the family's patriarch.

Voted #1 play of the year by Time, The Associated Press, Entertainment Weekly, and TimeOut New York, Charles Isherwood of The New York Times has called August: Osage County "The most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years."

August: Osage County performs Tuesday-Friday at 7:30PM, Matinees on Wednesday and Saturdays at 2:00PM, Saturdays at 8:00PM and Sundays at 3:00PM. Tickets can be purchased at Telecharge.com, or by calling (212) 239-6200. Outside the NY Metro (800) 432-7250.

The Music Box Theatre is located at 239 West 45th Street. The after-party was held at Sardi's Restaurant, 234 W44th Street.Best known to television audiences for his portrayals of bar owner Holling Vincoeur (six seasons, Emmy nomination) on the hit series Northern Exposure, and Dr. Greene's (Anthony Edward's) father on E.R., John Cullum enjoys a long and distinguished career on stage and screen. He arrived in New York over fifty years ago, venturing far from his hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee with a dream of becoming a professional actor. In the years since, he's never stopped working.

Broadway audiences have relished Mr. Cullum's performances in such legendary shows as Camelot, Richard Burton's Hamlet (directed by Sir John Gielgud), On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (in which he introduced the now famous title song), Man of La Mancha, 1776, Shenandoah, On the Twentieth Century, Deathtrap, The Boys in Autumn (opposite George C. Scott), Aspects of Love (with Sarah Brightman), Show Boat, Urinetown, 110 in the Shade (opposite audra mcdonald), and most recently in the title role of Shakespeare's Cymbeline at Lincoln Center. Mr. Cullum has been honored with two Tony Awards -- for Shenandoah and On the Twentieth Century -- and was also nominated for his work in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Urinetown, and 110 in the Shade.

Other notable, recent stage performances include the Roundabout Theatre's revival of Arthur Miller's All My Sons, Mr. Cullum's UK debut in Miller's Mr. Peter's Connections, Wendy Wasserstein's Old Money, the erotic chamber musical Wilder, Rose's Dilemma by Neil Simon, a chilling portrait of Cardinal Bernard Law in Sin: A Cardinal Deposed, Candide at Lincoln Center, the Encores concert production of Purlie, The Other Side (opposite Rosemary Harris), and The Conscientious Objector (as LBJ). Mr. Cullum also found time to return to his alma mater to star in The Dresser, with son JD Cullum, at the University of Tennessee's Clarence Brown Theatre.Mr. Cullum's films include: All the Way Home, Richard Burton's Hamlet, Hawaii, 1776, the television blockbuster The Day After, The Prodigal, Sweet Country (with Jane Alexander), Ricochet River (with Kate Hudson), Inherit the Wind (starring George C. Scott and Jack Lemmon), Held Up (starring Jamie Foxx) and the award-winning, two-character short film Blackwater Elegy (with Barry Corbin). He also starred in and wrote the screenplay for the dark comedy The Secret Life of Algernon, which co-starred Charles Durning and Carrie Anne Moss. He has recently portrayed a singing preacher in The Notorious Bettie Page and Robin Williams' father in The Night Listener.

Mr. Cullum has been a regular on several television series, including One Life to Live, The Edge of Night, Buck James (starring Dennis Weaver), Northern Exposure and To Have and To Hold, and hosted A&E's anthology drama series Victorian Days.

Mr. Cullum's most recent television guest appearances include E.R., All My Children, Law & Order, a recurring role as defense attorney Barry Moredock ("the Tennessee Weasel") on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and two guest appearances as a southern tobacco executive on the first season of AMC's breakout hit, Mad Men.

He has lent his voice to three Ken Burns documentaries, Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip, The West and Unforgiveable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, and narrated audiobooks by a wide spectrum of authors including western writer Will James, humorist James Thurber, epic storyteller James Michener and the master of modern horror, Stephen King. Most recently, Mr. Cullum narrated the DVD documentaries Secrets of Angels, Demons and Masons, Secrets of the Occult, and Secrets of the Soul.

In 2007, Mr. Cullum was named to the Theater Hall of Fame.

Photo By Peter James Zielinski