Kaufman Directs Morton, O'Malley, Ragusa & More In KC Rep's INTO THE WOODS, Runs 9/11-10/4

Eric Rosen, artistic director of Kansas City Repertory Theatre, opens the Rep's 2009-10 season with the Tony Award-winning musical Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim. Broadway director Moisés Kaufman will direct.

Although Sondheim's Into the Woods is inspired by historical stories such as Cinderella, Jack and the Bean Stalk, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood and other now-familiar fables collected by The Brothers Grimm, it is not a sanitized version of fairy tales set to music. Rather, it is a complex examination of what lies beneath the fairy tales. As originally told, these fables were often dark and foreboding. Over the centuries, however, they have been turned into morality tales for children. Analytical psychiatrist Carl Jung, and many others, believe the fables speak to the fundamental nature of the human psyche and it is this dark side of the stories that Kaufman will explore.

Kaufman, considered to be one of America's most innovative thinkers about the theatre, is artistic director of Tectonic Theater Project in New York City. His recent Broadway production of 33 Variations, starring Jane Fonda, received five Tony Award nominations, including for best play and best performance by an actress. He and is also well-known as the Tony Award-nominated director of I Am My Own Wife (originally produced by Rosen in Chicago), The Laramie Project and Gross Indecencies: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde. On October 12, Kansas City Rep will participate in a one-time, nationwide staged reading of The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, written by Kaufman and other members of Tectonic Theatre Project.

Into the Woods premiered on Broadway in 1987 and received ten Tony Award nominations and won for best score, best book and best actress in a musical. Since that time, the show has had numerous productions including a 1988 national tour, a 1990 London staging and a 2002 Broadway revival which won Tony Awards for best revival of a musical and best lighting design.

Sondheim is the recipient of an Academy Award, numerous Tony Awards (including a Special Lifetime Achievement Award), multiple Grammy Awards and a Pulitzer Prize. His musical theatre work also includes A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, Assassins, West Side Story and Gypsy.

The cast for Into the Woods features the following New York actors:

Claybourne Elder (Cinderella's Prince/Wolf) originated the role of Hollis in Sondheim's Road Show and can be heard on the cast recording. He will appear in the upcoming world premiere of Frank Wildhorn's Bonnie and Clyde at the La Jolla Playhouse. New York credits: productions at The Public Theatre, Times Square Arts Center, Barrington Stages, The York, The Triad and Danny Kaye Playhouse. Readings and workshops include Michael John LaChuisa's A Star is Born with Idina Menzel.

Euan Morton (Narrator) received an Olivier Award nomination for originating the role of Boy George in the London production of Taboo, a role he reprised on Broadway (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Drama League Award nominations and the Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut). He also performed in the recent Broadway revival of Cyrano De Bergerac. Off Broadway: American premiere of Leaves of Glass, Howard Katz opposite Alfred Molina, and Measure for Pleasure (Obie Award).

Brynn O'Malley (Baker's Wife) is a veteran of the Broadway shows Wicked, Sunday in the Park with George, Hairspray and Beauty and the Beast. Regional credits: Avenue Q at Wynn Las Vegas, Oklahoma! and Meet Me In St. Louis at Paper Mill Playhouse, She Loves Me at Arena Stage (Helen Hayes nomination), Arsenic and Old Lace at Baltimore Centerstage, and Into the Woods (Baker's Wife) at Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera.

Zachary Prince (Baker) played Frankie Valli in the first national tour of Jersey Boys. Regional credits: productions at Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Irvine Civic Light Opera, Laguna Playhouse, York Theatre and Prospect Theater Company. Performances as a concert soloist: Cincinnati Pops, Sun Valley Summer Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He is a founding member of the newly formed ensemble company, Elbow Room Society.

Michele Ragusa (Witch) starred in the Broadway production of Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein (Elizabeth, succeeding Megan Mullally). She has also appeared in Christopher Durang's Adrift In Macao (Barrymore Award and Lortel and Drama League nominations), Urinetown, Ragtime, A Class Act, Titanic and Cyrano. National tours of Fiddler on The Roof, West Side Story and Nunsense II with Joanne Worley. Regional Credits: The Full Monty, Bad Dates, She Loves Me, Guys and Dolls (Rabin Award), Noises Off, Side by Side by Sondheim and the world premiere of Tom Jones. Film and television credits: Heart of Spider, "Law & Order: SVU," "The Guiding Light," "One Life to Live" and "All My Children."

Tina Stafford (Jack's Mother/Cinderella's Mother/Granny/Giant) has performed in New York in Zorba, The Year of the Baby, Smoking Bloomberg and Missionaries. Regional musical credits: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Cinderella at Paper Mill, Zhivago at La Jolla Playhouse, Sweeney Todd and Lizzie Borden at Goodspeed Musicals and Little Shop of Horrors at Utah Shakespearean Festival. Additional acting credits: A Child's Christmas in Wales and A Christmas Carol at Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, The Comedy of Errors at Utah Shakespearean Festival, King Lear, Measure for Measure, Love's Labor's Lost and The Learned Ladies at Texas Shakespeare Festival.

Dana Steingold (Little Red Riding Hood) has toured nationally in The 25th Annual Putnam Country Spelling Bee (Logainne Schwartz/Grubeniere), directed by James Lapine and has performed in the pre-Broadway workshop of a revival of Godspell. Regional credits: Ordinary Days, High School Musical 2, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Dames at Sea, The Diary of Anne Frank and the Metropolitan Opera Gala at Avery Fisher Hall.

Lauren Worsham (Cinderella) appeared in the Broadway production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and performed in its first national tour, in Jerry Springer the Opera and the New York City Opera's Candide. Workshops and readings: The Chemist's Wife at the Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, Mirror, Mirror for Playwrights Horizon, Christmas Carol Rag for Barnstormer's Theater and Now I Ask You for Provincetown Playhouse.

Kansas City actors performing in Into the Woods:

Lauren Braton (Rapunzel) has appeared in Kansas City at American Heartland Theatre, Quality Hill Playhouse, Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre, Musical Theater Heritage and Civic Opera Theater of Kansas City.

KC Comeaux (Jack) has appeared in world premieres of U:Bug:Me and The Happy Elf at Kansas City's nationally recognized Coterie Theatre and in Bare at the Unicorn Theatre.

Patrick DuLaney (Steward/Father) has appeared in Kansas City area productions of Macbeth, Floyd Collins, Tartuffe, Oklahoma!, The Country Wife and Forever Plaid. He is also a founding member of the Alaska Shakespeare Festival.

Zachary Hoar (Boy) made his Rep debut last year as Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol.

Katie Kalahurka (Stepsister) recently performed in the Rep's production of A Flea in Her Ear, adapted by David Ives and directed by Gary Griffin. This winter, she will appear in the Rep's world premiere, pre-Broadway production A Christmas Story, The Musical! .

Katie Karel (Stepsister) has appeared in Kansas City in The Rocky Horror Picture Show at Off Center Theatre and Seussical at the Coterie Theatre, and in Godspell, The O'Connor Girls and Cabaret at Okoboji Summer Theatre in Iowa.

Melinda MacDonald (Cinderella's Stepmother) has appeared at the Rep in Dancing at Lughnasa, The Imaginary Invalid and Guys and Dolls. Kansas City credits: Camelot, Sound of Music, Sheer Madness, Rumors and Catch Me If You Can at the New Theater; What The Butler Saw, Taffetas, All Night Strut, Grand Night For Singing and The Buddy Holly Story at the American Heartland and Because He Can, Sight Unseen and Quilters at the Unicorn Theatre. She has also performed extensively at Quality Hill Playhouse and is a featured soloist with the Kansas City Symphony.

Kip Niven (Mysterious Man/Cinderella's Father) will next perform at the Rep in the world premiere of A Christmas Story, The Musical!. He has appeared on Broadway, off-Broadway and in regional theatres, as well as in feature films, network television and commercials.

Brandon Sollenberger (Rapunzel's Prince/Cinderella's Prince) has appeared in Kansas City in Bare and La Cage Aux Folles at the Unicorn Theatre, Who is Lerner and Lowe, Into the Woods, The Fantasticks, Brigadoon and Man of La Mancha for Musical Theater Heritage, Christmas in Song 2008 and Christmas in Song 2007 at Quality Hill Playhouse and Footloose and Jesus Christ Superstar at Starlight Theatre.

The show also features Assistant Music Director/Conductor/Pianist Anthony Edwards and six Kansas City musicians: Tod A. Barnard (Drums), Greg Briggs (Reed 1), Mark Cohick (Reed 2), Daniel Doss (Synthesizer/Rehearsal Pianist), Jeff Harshbarger (Bass) and Steven Molloy (Trumpet).

The creative team for Into the Woods is Curtis Moore (Music Director), Daniel Pelzig (Choreographer), Narelle Sissons (Set Designer), Clint Ramos (Costume Designer), Japhy Weideman (Lighting Designer) and Andre Pluess (Sound Designer).

All performances and events will take place at Spencer Theatre in the James C. Olson Performing Arts Center on the UMKC campus, just east of the Country Club Plaza. Tickets for Into the Woods cost $15-$55; youth tickets (18 years and younger and students with valid school ID) are $15. For information about performance times and ticket options, call the Rep Box Office at 816-235-2700 or visit www.kcrep.org.

Special events scheduled for Into the Woods include:

Saturday, September 12
Rep Set Happy Hour - 7 p.m.

Sunday, September 13
LGBT Night

Wednesday, September 16
Meet the Creative Team Following the 7 p.m. performance

Friday, September 18
Opening Night - 8 p.m.

Saturday, September 26
Signed performance, Scholars' Forum following the 2 p.m. matinee

Sunday, September 27
Actors' Forum Following 2 p.m. matinee

Tuesday, September 29
Actors' Forum Following 7 p.m. performance

Now in its 45th year, Kansas City Repertory Theatre is one of the nation's leading professional theatres and a member of the League of Resident Theatres. The Rep produces a full season of plays and events at Spencer Theatre on the UMKC campus, where the Rep is the professional theatre in residence, and at Copaken Stage downtown. Its diverse repertoire includes new works, musicals and classics of literature. The theatre serves approximately 100,000 patrons annually and employs more than 250 professional artists, technicians and administrators.

For more information, visit www.kcrep.org.

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