World Premiere Of Lee Kalcheim's COMING BACK LIKE A SONG! Begins June 28

Berkshire Theatre Group presents Emmy Award-winner Lee Kalcheim's (All in the Family) World Premiere, Coming Back Like a Song!, a play about Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen and Jimmy Van Heusen. Directed by Tony Award-nominated Gregg Edelman (City of Angels, Into The Woods; BTG: Arsenic and Old Lace, Constellations), Coming Back Like a Song! features Tony Award-nominated David Garrison (A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine) as Irving Berlin, Philip Hoffman (Cabaret, Falsettos) as Harold Arlen and David Rasche (Sledge Hammer!) as Jimmy Van Heusen. Performances begin Thursday, June 28, 2018 and run through Saturday, July 21, 2018 at The Fitzpatrick Main Stage (83 East Main Street) in Stockbridge, MA.

It's 1956, and three of America's great songwriters, Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen and Jimmy Van Heusen, are at a crossroads in their lives; rock 'n roll is now king, and their careers could be over. Directed by Tony Award-nominated Gregg Edelman (City of Angels, 1776, Into The Woods; BTG: Arsenic and Old Lace, Constellations), Emmy Award-winner Lee Kalcheim's (All in the Family) World Premiere, Coming Back Like a Song! follows the story of the three old friends and music icons on Christmas Eve in New York City, as they drink, fight and sing. Berlin, Arlen and Van Heusen have written classic tunes such as, Berlin's "Cheek to Cheek" and "Always;" Arlen's "Over the Rainbow" and "The Man That Got Away;" to Van Heusen's "Swingin' On a Star" and "All the Way" and many more. We dare you not to sing along.

Coming Back Like a Song! will play the following performance schedule: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday at 7pm; Friday and Saturday at 8pm; Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 2pm.

Tickets for Coming Back Like a Song! are $66, and $45 for Previews. Tickets may be purchased in person at the Colonial Ticket Office at 111 South Street, Pittsfield or by calling (413) 997-4444 or online at www.BerkshireTheatreGroup.org. The Ticket Office is open Monday-Saturday 10am-5pm, Sundays 10am-2pm or on any performance day from 10am until curtain. All plays, schedules, casting and prices are subject to change.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Lee Kalcheim (Playwright) writes for television, film and theatre. TV credits include: NBC's Something Wilder starring Gene Wilder (for which he was co creator), All In The Family (Emmy Award), The Odd Couple and The Paper Chase (Cable Ace Award). TV films include: the Writers Guild Award-winning After School Special, The Bridge of Adam Rush, and network movies, The Class of '63, Marriage is Alive and Well in the USA and The Comedy Company. Plays include: New York City productions of Breakfast With Les and Bess at the Hudson Guild and the Lambs Theatre, and Friends at Manhattan Theatre Club (starring Ron Silver and Craig Nelson). Among his regional productions are: The Prague Spring in Cleveland and Chicago, Defiled at The Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles (starring Peter Falk and Jason Alexander) and productions in Budapest and Tokyo. Lee's wife Julia (a literary agent, Julia Lord Literary) and their twin boys Samuel and Gabriel enjoy life in both New York City, and their 18th century farmhouse in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Gregg Edelman (Director) is proud to be returning to BTG for the fifth consecutive summer. He returns after having directed Arsenic and Old Lace last year, and Constellations the previous summer. Appearances as an actor include: Fredrik in A Little Night Music and Sidney in Deathtrap. His Broadway credits (four Tony Award-nominations, the Drama Desk Award and numerous Outer Critics nominations) include: City of Angels, 1776, Les Miserables and Anything Goes. His films include: Jane Wants A Boyfriend, Little Children, Crimes and Misdemeanors and Spiderman 2. Television credits include recurring roles on Shades Of Blue and Hack, as well as guest-starring on all the Law and Order series, Madam Secretary, 30 Rock, Blue Bloods and The Good Wife, among others. His upcoming directing projects include a new chamber musical entitled, Night Without A Moon and a new two-person comedy, Sour Notes, about the difficulty falling in love in the age of internet.

David Garrison (Irving Berlin) On/Off Broadway: A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine (Tony Award-nomination), I Do! I Do! (Drama Desk Award-nomination), Wicked (Carbonell Award),Titanic, The Visit, The Pirates of Penzance, Torch Song Trilogy, Dead Poets Society, Geniuses, Middletown, New Jerusalem, It's Only a Play, Silence! The Musical. Regional: Merrily We Roll Along (Arena Stage, Helen Hayes Award), Randy Newman's Faust (La Jolla/Goodman), Travesties (Williamstown), Die Fledermaus (Santa Fe Opera), Candide (Glimmerglass). TV: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Good Wife, 30 Rock, Madame Secretary, NYPD Blue, Everybody Loves Raymond, Murder She Wrote, Murphy Brown, Law and Order, The Practice, The West Wing and Steve Rhoades on Married With Children.

Philip Hoffman (Harold Arlen) a veteran of 12 original Broadway casts, including: Cabaret, Into The Woods, Falsettos, Is There Life After High School?, Baby, The Scarlet Pimpernel, A Catered Affair and Our Mother's Brief Affair. Off-Broadway productions range from All In The Timing to Yiddle With A Fiddle, and Lee Kalcheim & David Shire's My History of Marriage for NYMF. Around the country he's appeared in Angels In America: Perestroika (Roy Cohen), Speed-the-Plow (Charlie Fox), A Midsummer Night's Dream, Bat Boy, Syncopation, The Times (at The Long Wharf Theatre) and in national tours of Jekyll & Hyde and Titanic. TV Credits include: Billions, Blue Bloods, Bull, Law & Order, Seven Seconds and Orange Is The New Black. He can be heard on several cast and "concept" recordings, and audiobooks on Audible.com.

David Rasche (Jimmy Van Heusen) began as a member of the cast of Chicago's Second City, and has worked frequently on Broadway and Off-Broadway, most recently in Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth at Theater for a New Audience in Brooklyn, and in the musical of Little Miss Sunshine at Second Stage, directed by James Lapine. Film credits include: Burn After Reading, United 93, In the Loop, Just Married, That Old Feeling, Men in Black III, Delirious and Manhattan. On TV, he played the title role in Sledge Hammer!, and has appeared in episodic shows from Miami Vice to Madame Secretary to, this season, Veep and Succession, both on HBO. In August he will be appearing in Michael Tucker's Fern Hill at the NJ Rep. He is scheduled soon to perform his one-man cabaret show, Half an Evening with David Rasche.

About Berkshire Theatre Group

The Colonial Theatre, founded in 1903, and Berkshire Theatre Festival, founded in 1928, are two of the oldest cultural organizations in the Berkshires. In 2010, under the leadership of Artistic Director and CEO Kate Maguire, the two organizations merged to form Berkshire Theatre Group (BTG). Berkshire Theatre Group's mission is to support wide ranging artistic exploration and acclaimed performances in theatre, dance, music and entertainment. Every year, BTG produces and presents performances to over 68,000 attendees and, through our Educational Program, serves over 13,000 Berkshire County schoolchildren annually. BTG's celebrated stages reflect the history of the American theatre; they represent a priceless cultural resource for the community.

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