Pasadena Playhouse Producing Artistic Director Danny Feldman announces the Los Angeles premiere of Ann - written by and starring Holland Taylor and directed by Benjamin Endsley Klein from May 27 to June 28, 2020, and the on-sale of tickets for The Father, written by Florian Zeller and starring Alfred Molina, translated by Christopher Hampton and directed by Jessica Kubzansky, from February 5 to March 1, 2020.
Tickets for The Father are now available at
pasadenaplayhouse.org, by phone at 626-356-7529, and at the box office at 39 South El Molino Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101. Ann will be available to Members of the Playhouse in mid-December, and to the General public in January 2020. Membership are currently available at
pasadenaplayhouse.org.
The Father by French playwright
Florian Zeller, stars
Alfred Molina (Frieda, An Education, Enchanted April) in a tour-de-force role in perhaps one of the most awarded plays of recent times on two continents - winning the 2014 Molière Award, and nominations for the Evening Standard Theatre Award, Olivier Award for Best New Play, and Tony Award for Best Play.
André was once a tap dancer. He lives with his daughter, Anne, and her husband, Antoine. Or was André an engineer, whose daughter Anne lives in London with her new lover, Pierre? The thing is, he is still wearing his pajamas, and he can't find his watch. He is starting to wonder if he's losing control.
A New York Times Critics Pick,
Ben Brantley said that The Father is "harrowing ... one of the most disorienting experiences in town ... The Father operates from an exceedingly ingenious premise ... that's presenting the world through the perspective of a mind in an advancing state of dementia, making reality as relative and unfixed as it might be in a vintage Theatre of the Absurd production ... [however] André's ego is too large and impregnable to be deflated by senility. Dementia is inherently tragic. That's what Shakespeare saw in King Lear, himself a precursor to this absurdist existential hero." Lyn Gardner said in The Guardian that The Father is "hugely rewarding ... a play that constantly confounds expectations and works almost like a thriller, with a sinister Pinteresque edge."
Iconic, heroic and hilarious, Texas Governor Ann Richards had a heart as big as the state from which she hailed, a wit to rival the greats, and an enduring passion for fair play. Neither partisan nor political, Ann is pure entertainment - an uplifting tribute to this courageous leader, dedicated mother, loving grandmother and legendary personality. Researched, written and performed by Emmy Award-winner Holland Taylor (The Practice, Legally Blonde and Two and a Half Men), whose unforgettable performance the New York Times called "frank, funny and warm...a FIERY DYNAMO," this richly imagined play reveals a complex, colorful and captivating character whose capacity to inspire us all burns even brighter today. Ann is a no-holds-barred, "blisteringly funny" comedy (Washingtonian) you won't soon forget.
Holland Taylor steps into the shoes of
Ann Richards who dedicated her life to empowering, expanding and enriching the lives of her constituents, friends and family. Taylor takes the audience on a journey, neither political nor a history lesson, swirling together the past and present to reunite
Ann Richards with old friends and introduce her to a new generation.
After playing throughout Texas to sold-out audiences, Ann went on to win critical acclaim in Chicago, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and on Broadway at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater.
Holland Taylor says, "Even after a great revival a few years ago when I brought her home to Texas, I didn't feel quite 'complete' with playing Ann. Galveston, San Antonio, Austin, Washington DC, Chicago, and New York-- clearly left the West Coast out, and I always wanted to play her in Los Angeles. I have to consider that I can't do it forever, I'm getting up there--and as with childbearing, we forget the labor, and only think of the joy ahead. It also seems a time yearning for the spirit of
Ann Richards. The glorious
Pasadena Playhouse has had a permanent invitation extended to us for years, and the time has come to RSVP. "I'll be there!"
Ann began as a project and quest for Taylor to understand what it was about this housewife, mother, grandmother, leader and iconic patriot that affected so many people so deeply. Writing the play became a four-year journey for Taylor, crisscrossing the country, interviewing people who knew the Governor, watching countless hours of video coverage, and pouring over reams of Richards' personal and public papers at the University of Texas. In the end, her greatest resources were the family, friends, staff and colleagues of the Governor who allowed Holland to "know"
Ann Richards.
About Ann, Feldman said, "In 2013, I saw
Holland Taylor perform her love letter to Texas Governor
Ann Richards on Broadway. I haven't stopped thinking about it since. Schedules finally aligned and I'm thrilled to have her bring her tour-de-force performance here at the Playhouse for our audiences. "
Holland Taylor - The New Yorker has called
Holland Taylor "the first vaudeville Gentile we ever saw." Her New York stage performances include Bess in Breakfast with Les and Bess, the original productions of Butley, opposite
Alan Bates, A.R. Gurney's The Cocktail Hour, and more recently--David Lindsay Abaire's dark comedy Ripcord at The Manhattan Theatre Club, and Broadway's stellar The Front Page, with
Nathan Lane. She still holds her head high after long ago on Broadway opening the historic flop, Moose Murders, having taken over for
Eve Arden during previews a mere week before.
Holland most notably stormed Broadway at Lincoln Center's Beaumont Theatre as both writer and star of ANN, a play about the late Texas Governor
Ann Richards. ANN garnered rave reviews, bringing Holland a TONY Award nomination for Best Actress, Drama Desk and Drama League nominations, and the Outer Circle Critics award for Best Solo Performance. There is a filmed version of the 2016 Zach Theatre production of ANN in Austin, when Holland triumphantly brought the show home to Texas as she said she would. That live performance movie of ANN now streams on BroadwayHD.com and will be broadcast across the country on PBS in summer of 2020.
Over the years in Los Angeles, she has performed on stage in Kindertransport, and played opposite
Christopher Lloyd in
Yasmina Reza's two hander The Unexpected Man at the Geffen Theatre. Narrating for the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Stravinsky's Persephone for Essa-Pekka Salonen, and for
John Adams in Phillip Glass' Ahknaten, Holland also delivered the spoken word in the Harry Potter Suite for Maestro
John Williams with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
She has worked extensively in film, appearing in Romancing the Stone, Jewel of the Nile, To Die For, Next Stop Wonderland, One Fine Day, George of the Jungle, The Truman Show, Happy Accidents, Spy Kids (2 & 3), Keeping the Faith, Legally Blonde,
Tina Fey and
Amy Poehler's Baby Mama, and Gloria Bell, starring the glorious
Julianne Moore.
On television, Holland has been nominated for the Emmy seven times, winning Best Supporting Actress in a Drama for the sexy, smart Judge Roberta Kittleson on The Practice. Among numerous series starring roles: The Powers that Be,
Norman Lear's short-lived, highly acclaimed political satire; Bosom Buddies, with
Tom Hanks; and, of course, the juggernaut,
Charlie Sheen's Two and a Half Men. Her final season is airing now of Mr. Mercedes, a limited TV series for Audience Network, starring the great Irish actor Brenden Gleeson. It is written by Executive Producer David Kelley, run by director
Jack Bender, and based on a trilogy of novels by
Stephen King.
While working in this project, Holland also filmed three movies-- The Stand-In with
Drew Barrymore, Bombshell, the
Jay Roach picture about
Roger Ailes, starring
Charlize Theron,
Nicole Kidman,
Margot Robbie, and
John Lithgow, and--the cherry on the cake, she played "The Great Leader," in Bill and Ted Face the Music, which die-hard hordes of fans await next summer.
Holland also especially enjoyed the role of 'Stormy," in NETFLIX's To All the Boys I've Loved Before sequel, a wildly popular romantic film for young adults based on the charming Jenny Han novels. It airs in February 2020.
Currently she is having a wonderful time filming one of creative mogul
Ryan Murphy's projects for NETFLIX-- Hollywood-a behind the scenes take on the lives of a movie studio's denizens from the fabled forties.
Benjamin Endsley Klein (Director Ann) was born in Charlotte, NC and is a proud alumnus of the University of Michigan. Director of Ann starring Tony Nominated actress
Holland Taylor as Governor
Ann Richards. Before playing Broadway's Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln Center, the production played Chicago and The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Selected credits as Director include Pump Boys & Dinettes and First Date at
Pittsburgh CLO, Bend in the Road at New York Musical Theatre Festival (included in Huffington Post's "The Best Shows of 2013"), the world premiere musical Hello Out There at The
Adirondack Theatre Festival, the East Coast Premiere of Sick by
Zayd Dohrn at New Jersey Repertory, Hairspray at Charlottetown Festival (Prince Edward Island, Canada), Notes to MariAnne at the
Eugene O'Neill Musical Theatre Conference, and Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas at
The Old Globe in San Diego, California.
As Resident or Associate Director credits include The Ferryman (Tony Award Best Play), Carousel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Tony Award Best Play), War Horse at Lincoln Center Theatre (Tony Award Best Play), Love Never Dies in the West End, Hairspray in the West End (Olivier Award for Best Musical), UK tour of Hairspray,
Lincoln Center Theater's The Coast of Utopia (Tony Award Best Play), and Broadway, 1st National US Tour, and Regional productions of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. SDC Member.
Venue:
Pasadena Playhouse, 39 South El Molino Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101
Dates:
Wednesday, May 27 to Sunday, June 28
Press opening Sunday, May 31 at 5:00 p.m.
Tickets: Prices start at $25
Online --
PasadenaPlayhouse.org
By phone at 626-356-7529
In person --
Pasadena Playhouse Box Office, located at 39 South El Molino Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101
Information: For more information on all productions at
Pasadena Playhouse visit
PasadenaPlayhouse.org.
Performance Schedule: Tuesday-Friday evenings at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m; Sunday at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
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