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VA's Signature to Stage Kander & Ebb's The Visit with Rivera
By: BWW News Desk Aug. 25, 2006
The acclaimed Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA will present Kander and Ebb's The Visit, which will be presented as the first show of its 2007-2008 season, according to the Washington Post. The show is slated to run from September 4th through October 14th, 2007.
The production will feature the same creative team as the world premiere Goodman Theatre production that was presented in Chicago in 2001: star Chita Rivera, director Frank Galati (The Pirate Queen, Ragtime, Tony Award-winner for The Grapes of Wrath) and choreographer Ann Reinking (Tony Award-winner for Chicago). Although the creative team will be reunited, the production will also be unique to Signature Theatre.A hoped-for Broadway transfer after the Goodman production never materialized, and the show's future had been in limbo since (a planned Public Theatre production co-starring Frank Langella also fell through). Curtains, another musical by Kander and the late Ebb, is currently playing at LA's Ahmanson Theatre and is also Broadway-bound. The team was, of course, responsible for the scores of Cabaret, Chicago, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and many more.The Visit features music by John Kander, lyrics by the late Fred Ebb and a book by Terrence McNally, who based it upon the play of the title by Friedrich Durenmatt. In the show, Claire Zachanassian, once exiled from her village and now the world's wealthiest woman, returns to seek vengeance on the man who long ago betrayed her.
Rivera was recently nominated as Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life. Rivera is a two-time Tony Award winner for The Rink and Kiss of the Spiderwoman, and also received nods for her performances in Nine (her most recent Broadway appearance), Jerry's Girls, Merlin, Bring Back Birdie, the original production of Chicago and Bye Bye, Birdie. Rivera originated the role of Anita in West Side Story, and has also been seen on Broadway in Can-Can, Mr. Wonderful, Shinbone Alley and Bajour, as well as in touring productions of Pippin and Sweet Charity. Rivera will tour with The Dancer's Life, which opens at the new Miami PAC in January of 2007.Signature Theatre's 2006-2007 season will include My Fair Lady, Into the Woods (the inaugural production at the company's new Village theatre complex in Shirlington), and the world premiere of Saving Aimee, among others.
Visit www.signature-theatre.org for more information.
Photo by Eric Y. Exit--Chita Rivera in The Visit at the Goodman Theatre
Photo by Eric Y. Exit--Chita Rivera in The Visit at the Goodman Theatre
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