LCT Announces Schmidt, Halberstam In A MINISTER'S WIFE, Opens 5/8

Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of Andre Bishop, Artistic Director, and Bernard Gersten, Executive Producer) has announced that Liz Baltes, Kate Fry, Drew Gehling, Marc Kudisch and Bobby Steggert will comprise the cast of its upcoming production of A MINISTER'S WIFE, a new musical with book by Austin Pendleton, music by Joshua Schmidt and lyrics by Jan Levy Tranen, based on Candida by George Bernard Shaw. A MINISTER'S WIFE, which was conceived and will be directed by Michael Halberstam, will open on Sunday, May 8 at 6:45pm at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (150 West 65 Street).

A MINISTER'S WIFE had its world premiere last spring at Writers' Theatre in Glencoe, Illinois. Based on an early 1898 version of Candida (George Bernard Shaw revised the work in 1930) A MINISTER'S WIFE explores the fires burning beneath the surface of a seemingly ordinary marriage. The Revered James Morell (to be played by Marc Kudisch) and his wife, Candida (Kate Fry), are happily married - or at least they think - until a romantic young poet, Marchbanks, (Bobby Steggert) enters their life.

A MINISTER'S WIFE will have sets by Allen Moyer, costumes by David Zinn, lighting by Keith Parham, sound by Scott Stauffer, orchestrations by Joshua Schmidt, musical direction by Richard Carsey and will be conducted by Tim Splain.

Austin Pendleton is an actor, director and playwright whose recent plays include Booth, Orson's Shadow and Uncle Bob. His New York directing credits include the current Three Sisters (Classic Stage Company, Uncle Vanya (also at the CSC), Michael Weller's Fifty Words (MCC) and Barbara Eda-Young's Lillian Yuralis (La MaMa). Joshua Schmidt composed the music for the multi-award winning musical, Adding Machine. His other off-Broadway credits include the music for LCT'S production of When The Rain Stops Falling, Fifty Words (MCC), Crime and Punishment (59E59 Theatres) and Candida (Jean Cocteau Repertory). He is an Artistic Associate at Writers' Theatre. Jan Levy Tranen's credits include the lyrics for the one-act opera, Night in Sarajevo and the book and lyrics for the musicals, Crazy Mary, based on the life of Mary Todd Lincoln, and Steadfast the One Legged Tin Soldier, a family holiday musical. Michael Halberstam is the artistic director and co-founder of Writers' Theatre where he has directed more than 30 productions including Look Back In Anger, Benefactors, Othello and The Duchess of Malfi.

LCT is currently presenting Other Desert Cities, a new play by Jon Robin Baitz, directed by Joe Mantello, currently at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater through Sunday, February 27. Next month, in a co-production with the National Theatre of Great Britain, LCT will present War Horse, based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo and adapted by Nick Stafford, in association with Handspring Puppet Company, with direction by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, beginning performances Tuesday, March 15 and opening Thursday, April 14 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. LCT3, Lincoln Center Theater's programming initiative devoted to producing the work of new artists and developing new audiences, is currently presenting the world premiere of When I Come To Die, a new play by Nathan Louis Jackson, directed by Thomas Kail, through Saturday, February 26 at The Duke on 42nd Street. Later this season, LCT3 will present 4000 Miles, a new play by Amy Herzog, directed by Daniel Aukin, featuring Mary Louise Wilson and Gabriel Ebert, from Monday, June 6 through Saturday, July 2 at the Duke on 42nd Street.

A MINISTER'S WIFE will be performed Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8pm, with matinees Wednesday and Saturdays at 2pm and Sundays at 3pm. (Please note: there is no Saturday matinee on April 9 and that the opening night performance on Sunday, May 8 at 6:45pm will take place of that day's regularly scheduled 3pm matinee).

Tickets to A MINISTER'S WIFE, priced at $75 and $85, will be available beginning Sunday, March 20 at the Lincoln Center Theater box office (150 West 65 Street), at telecharge.com, or by visiting www.lct.org.

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