Williamstown Theatre Festival's THE VISIT, Starring Chita Rivera, Begins Tonight

Williamstown Theatre Festival presents The Visit, running on the Main Stage from tonight, July 31 through August 17, 2014.

In her Festival debut, Broadway legend Chita Rivera embodies Claire Zachanassian, the oft-widowed richest woman in the world, in The Visit. When Claire returns to the hardship-stricken town of her birth, the locals pray that her wealth will bring them a new lease on life, but the carefully plotted renewal she offers carries a dreadful price. Sardonic and morally complex, The Visit asks: What can your heart afford?

Featuring Festival favorite and Tony Award winner Roger Rees (director of WTF's Herringbone, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickelby) and helmed by Tony Award-winning director John Doyle (WTF's Ten Cents a Dance, Sweeney Todd), this incendiary musical is one of the last collaborations between the incomparable John Kander and Fred Ebb, with a book by Tony Award winner Terrence McNally (Master Class, Love! Valor! Compassion!) and choreography by the legendary Graciela Daniele (Ragtime, Annie Get Your Gun).

In addition to Roger Rees and Chita Rivera, the cast of The Visit includes John Bambery (WTF's June Moon), Jason Danieley (Curtains, Next to Normal), Matthew Deming, Diana DiMarzio (WTF's June Moon, Sweeney Todd), Melanie Field (WTF's June Moon, Evita), David Garrison (WTF's Travesties), Rick Holmes (WTF's June Moon, Spamalot), Judy Kuhn (Passion, LES MISERABLES), Jude McCormick, Tom Nelis (WTF's Six Degrees of Separation, Passion), Chris Newcomer (Chicago), Aaron Ramey (Young Frankenstein, Curtains), Timothy Shew (WTF's June Moon, LES MISERABLES), and Michelle Veintimilla.

The creative team of The Visit also includes Scott Pask (Scenic Design; WTF's Ten Cents a Dance, Book of Mormon), Ann Hould-Ward (Costume Design; WTF's Ten Cents a Dance, Company), Japhy Weideman (Lighting Design; WTF's A Month in the Country, Of Mice and Men), Dan Moses Schreier (Sound Design; WTF's Ten Cents a Dance, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder), Paul Huntley (Hair and Wig Design: WTF's Importance of Being Earnest, Cabaret), Angelina Avallone (Makeup Design: Cabaret, Bullets Over Broadway), andDavid Loud (Music Director; Curtains, The Scottsboro Boys). Larry Hochman (The Book of Mormon, The Scottsboro Boys) is the Orchestrator and the Production Stage Manager is Libby Unsworth.

Tickets for all Williamstown Theatre Festival productions can be purchased online at wtfestival.org, by phone at 413-597-3400, or in person at the '62 Center for Theatre and Dance Box Office at 1000 Main St (Route 2), Williamstown, MA 02167.

Since 1955, the Williamstown Theatre Festival has brought America's finest actors, directors, designers, and playwrights to the Berkshires, engaging a loyal audience of both residents and summer visitors. Each WTF season is designed to present unique opportunities for artists and audience alike, revisiting classic plays with innovative productions, developing and nurturing bold new plays and musicals, and offering a rich array of accompanying cultural events including Free Theatre, Late-Night Cabarets, readings, workshops, and educational programs. While best known for our acclaimed productions, WTF is also home to one of the nation's top training and professional development programs for new generations of aspiring theatre artists and administrators. WTF was honored with the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in 2002 and the Commonwealth Award for Achievement in 2011.