Photo Flash: Drury Lane's BROADWAY BOUND Celebrates Opening Night

Drury Lane Theatre presents Neil Simon's Tony Award-winning dramatic comedy BROADWAY BOUND, opening June 16 and running through July 31 at Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane. BROADWAY BOUND stars Jeff Award and Drama Desk Award winner Mike Nussbaum as "Ben" (Glengarry Glen Ross on Broadway, The Merchant of Venice at Chicago Shakespeare); Jeff Award and Sarah Siddons Award winner Carmen Roman (National Tour of Angels in America) as "Kate," reprising the role she played in the 2004 Peninsula Players production of BROADWAY BOUND; and multi-Jeff Award recipient and Sarah Siddons Award winner Paula Scrofano as "Blanche" (Thoroughly Modern Millie at Drury Lane Theatre, The Most Happy Fella at Ravinia Festival, The Wizard of Oz at Chicago Shakespeare, and Sunday in the Park with George at Goodman Theatre). The production is directed by David New, multi-Jeff Award nominee, Sarah Siddons Award winner and former Associate Artistic Director at Steppenwolf Theatre. 

BROADWAY BOUND also stars Richard McWilliams as "Jack" (Orpheus Descending on Broadway, The Tempest at Great Lakes Theatre Festival, Desire Under the Elms at The Guthrie Theatre.) Making their anticipated Drury Lane Theatre debut, Jason Karasev plays "Stanley" (Ovation Award nominee for Mercury Fur in Los Angeles, Second City, Sundance Summer Labratory), and Max Polski plays the Neil Simon stand-in/narrator in the production, "Eugene" (What May Fall at Guthrie Theater and Twelfth Night at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival). Karasev, a graduate of The Theatre School at DePaul University, returns to his home town after moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in television and film. He can currently be seen as a series regular on MTV's Disaster Date. Polski, a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater B.F.A. Actor Training Program, recently moved to Chicago to launch his theater career.

BROADWAY BOUND features an authentic two-story Brooklyn-style house on stage designed by Collette Pollard (Jeff Award nomination for The Illusion at Court Theatre, The House on Mango Street at Steppenwolf Theatre, Stoop Stories at Goodman Theatre). Pollard visited Brooklyn to research architectural styles and recreated the vintage home and neighborhood based on historic photographs, Norman Rockwell prints, and pictures in old catalogs. Authentic 1940s costumes were meticulously researched and designed by Linda Roethke (I Never Sang for My Father at Steppenwolf Theatre). Vibrant, nuanced lighting is designed by Jeff Award winner Jesse Klug (The Screwtape Letters National Tour). Jeff Award winner Tammy Mader (Drury Lane Theatre's Thoroughly Modern Millie and My One and Only) serves as Dance Consultant. Sound Design is by Michael Griggs, Props Design is by Becky Marshall and Wig Design is by Rick Jarvie.

The conclusion of an acclaimed semi-autobiographical trilogy that includes Brighton Beach Memoirs and Biloxi Blues, BROADWAY BOUND is by Tony, Emmy and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Neil Simon (Barefoot in the Park, Sweet Charity, The Goodbye Girl, The Odd Couple.) "If Broadway ever erects a monument to the patron saint of laughter, Neil Simon would have to be it," said Time magazine. Hailed as "a mesmerizing journey" by The New York Times, BROADWAY BOUND premiered on Broadway in 1986. The play received seven Tony Award nominations and was nominated for a 1987 Pulitzer Prize for drama.
Set in the late 1940s in Brooklyn, New York, BROADWAY BOUND is the story of two brothers, Eugene and Stanley Jerome, who are determined to break into show business as professional comedy writers. As their parents' relationship unravels, the brothers convene in the upstairs bedroom of their Brighton Beach home to write and rehearse material. When the brothers use their real-life family situation as inspiration for a radio comedy skit, they learn quickly of the complications that ensue when life informs art. Called "expectedly funny and unexpectedly moving" by the New York Daily News, BROADWAY BOUND is a hilarious, warm and poignant tribute to family and the ties that bind.

The performance schedule for BROADWAY BOUND is as follows: Wednesdays at 1:30 p.m. ($35), Thursdays at 1:30 p.m. ($35) and 8 p.m. ($40), Fridays at 8:30 p.m. ($45), Saturdays at 5 p.m. ($45) and 8:30 p.m. ($46) and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. ($45) and 6 p.m. ($40). Lunch and dinner theater packages range from $49.75 to $68 depending on the day of the week. Student tickets start as low as $20 and Senior Citizen tickets start as low as $29 for matinees and $43.75 for a matinee luncheon package. For reservations, call the Drury Lane Theatre box office at 630.530.0111, call TicketMaster at 800.745.3000, or visit www.drurylaneoakbrook.com.

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