ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY
Announces
Tony® Award winner
LAURA BENANTI & JOSH RADNOR
In
A new Broadway production of
SHE LOVES ME
Book by Lyrics by Music by
Joe Masteroff Sheldon Harnick Jerry Bock
Based on a play by Miklos Laszlo
Directed By
SCOTT ELLIS
Performances begin Spring 2016 on Broadway
Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) announces a new Broadway production of SHE LOVES ME, starring Tony winner Laura Benanti (Gypsy, Nine) as “Amalia” and Josh Radnor (Disgraced, “How I Met Your Mother”) as “Georg”, directed by six-time Tony nominee Scott Ellis. This classic musical comedy features a book by Joe Masteroff, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick and music by Jerry Bock.
In a special celebration of Roundabout’s 50th Anniversary season, She Loves Me returns to Broadway in a new production led by Roundabout’s Associate Artistic Director Scott Ellis. Scott directed Roundabout’s ten time Tony nominated revival of She Loves Me in 1993, which marked the first Broadway musical in the company’s history and launched the Musical Theatre Program at Roundabout. Highlights from Roundabout’s Musical Theatre Program include Cabaret, Nine, Assassins, Violet, The Pajama Game, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Sunday in the Park with George, Anything Goes and Broadway’s first revival of On the Twentieth Century opening this spring.
She Loves Me will play a limited engagement on Broadway in the spring of 2016.
The full cast, creative team and dates will be announced shortly.
Roundabout Theatre Company welcomes back celebrated Broadway performer Laura Benanti after her acclaimed performance in Roundabout’s 2003 Broadway production of Nine and Josh Radnor, who starred in a special one-night only gala reading of She Loves Me in 2011. Roundabout Associate Artistic Director Scott Ellis has directed numerous productions for the Roundabout stages, most recently the 2015 production of On the Twentieth Century and the 2012 production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
She Loves Me is a heartwarming musical comedy classic about finding love the good old-fashioned way. It follows Georg (Radnor) and Amalia (Benanti), two parfumerie clerks who aren’t quite the best of friends. Constantly bumping heads while on the job, the sparring coworkers can’t seem to find common ground. But little do they know, the anonymous romantic pen pals they have both been falling for happen to be each other! Will love continue to blossom once their identities are finally revealed?
The celebrated score features favorites such as “Vanilla Ice Cream”, “A Romantic Atmosphere”, “Dear Friend” and “She Loves Me.” The musical is based on a play by Miklos Laszlo, whose well-known romantic story was the basis for the 1949 James Stewart film “The Shop Around the Corner” and the 1998 Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan film “You’ve Got Mail”.
She Loves Me benefits from Roundabout’s Musical Theatre Fund with lead gifts from The Howard Gilman Foundation and Perry and Marty Granoff.
Musicals at Roundabout are supported with generous gifts from: The Bok Family Foundation and Cynthia Wainwright and Stephen Berger.
TICKET INFORMATION:
Tickets for She Loves Me are first made available to subscribers and donors. Whether you are interested in the best value or VIP experiences, Roundabout has a package option for you. Visit roundabouttheatre.org or call 212-719-1300 for more info. Sign up for Roundabout’s email club at roundabouttheatre.org to be notified when tickets go on sale to the public.
BIOGRAPHIES:
LAURA BENANTI (Amalia). Tony Award-winner Laura Benanti recently joined the season 3 cast of ABC’s hit series “Nashville” guest-starring as songbird Sadie Stone. Last year, Laura appeared in recurring roles on CBS’S “The Good Wife” and HBO’s “Nurse Jackie” in addition to her critically acclaimed performance as Elsa Schrader in NBC’s “The Sound of Music LIVE”, starring Carrie Underwood. In addition to television work, Ms. Benanti is a highly celebrated, four time Tony Award-nominated stage actress who took Broadway by storm at the age of 18. She received a Drama Desk award, Outer Critics Circle Award and a Tony Award Nomination for her starring role in the Broadway production of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown for Lincoln Center where she also starred in the Broadway production of Sarah Ruhl’s In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play. Ms. Benanti earned the 2008 Tony Award for Oustanding Featured Actress in a Musical, a Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award for her revelatory portrayal of Gypsy Rose Lee in Gypsy opposite Patti LuPone and directed by Arthur Laurents. Her other Broadway roles include The Wedding Singer, Nine, starring Antonio Banderas, her Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award-nominated performance of Cinderella in Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods and her sultry Tony nominated turn in Swing! Ms. Benanti made her Broadway debut as Maria in The Sound of Music opposite Richard Chamberlain. Other distinguished theater performances include the Public Theater’s production of Christopher Durang’s Why Torture is Wrong and the People Who Love Them, Perdita in The Winter’s Tale at the Williamstown Theatre Festival opposite Kate Burton, Anne in A Little Night Music at the L.A. Opera opposite Victor Garber, Eileen in Wonderful Town opposite Donna Murphy and most recently her portrayal of Rosabella in the Most Happy Fella, both for City Center Encores! Ms. Benanti completed a week-long engagement at the popular New York cabaret club, 54 Below, for which The New York Times hailed her as a “supremely confident” performer whose “bright, full soprano, with its semioperatic heft, can go almost anywhere.” In September 2013, she released her debut album, “In Constant Search of the Right Kind of Attention: Live at 54 BELOW” on Broadway Records to ecstatic reviews. Laura currently performs her concerts in venues around the country and even recently performed for the President and First Lady of the United States at both the Fords Gala and the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington DC. Laura’s past television credits include a starring role in the NBC series “The Playboy Club” and “Go On” opposite Matthew Perry. She also starred in the F/X original series “Starved”. Ms. Benanti recurred on “Law and Order: SVU,” “Royal Pains,” and “Eli Stone.” and had appearances on “The Big C” and “Elementary”. Next up Laura will be starring in Radio City Music Hall’s Spring Spectacular, directed by Diane Paulus and Warren Carlyle, as well as a one night only concert version of Parade at Avery Fisher Hall. She currently resides in Manhattan. Website:LauraBenanti.com. Twitter: @LauraBenanti
JOSH RADNOR (Georg). Radnor is currently starring in Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced on Broadway. Radnor wrote, directed, and starred in two films, both of which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival before being released in theaters: The Audience Award-winning “happythankyoumoreplease” opposite Kate Mara, Malin Akerman, and Tony Hale and “Liberal Arts” opposite Elizabeth Olsen, Richard Jenkins, Allison Janney, and Zac Efron. He was last seen in Jill Soloway’s “Afternoon Delight” (Sundance, 2013) opposite Kathryn Hahn and Juno Temple. Recently finished a nine-season run playing Ted Mosby on CBS’s Emmy-nominated comedy “How I Met Your Mother.” His other television credits include guest appearances on “ER,” “Six Feet Under,” and “Law & Order” among others. He was a series regular on ABC’s “The Court” starring Sally Field. He made his film debut in the original teen spoof “Not Another Teen Movie.” On Broadway he also played the title character in “The Graduate” opposite Kathleen Turner. Off-Broadway and regionally, he has appeared at the Manhattan Theater Club, The Vineyard Theater, and Baltimore Center Stage, among others. In Los Angeles, he appeared in the Ovation Award-winning world premiere production of Jon Robin Baitz’s “The Paris Letter.” Recently Josh appeared in New York Stage and Film’s world premiere production of Richard Greenberg’s “The Babylon Line,” directed by Terry Kinney.
JOE MASTEROFF (Book). Born in 1919 in Philadelphia, he had only one dream from infancy: to write for the theatre. After the essential lonely childhood and four year stint in the air force, he came to New York to face his future: book-writer or book seller? Luckily, luck intervened. Before long he had three shows on Broadway bearing his name: The Warm Peninsula starring Julie Harris, and two musicals She Loves Me and Cabaret, for which he was the book-writer. Thanks to indulgent parents, the New Dramatists, Hal Prince, and many others, he is now retired and living in subdued luxury.
SHELDON HARNICK (Lyrics). Mr. Harnick’s musical theatre career began in the 1950s with songs (e.g. “The Boston Beguine,” “Merry Little Minuet”) in revues on and Off-B’way. In 1957 he teamed with Jerry Bock to create the scores for a number of memorable musicals including Fiorello (Tony Award, Pulitzer Prize), She Loves Me (Grammy), Fiddler on the Roof (Tony), The Rothschilds and The Apple Tree. Other musicals: Rex (Richard Rodgers), A Wonderful Life (Joe Raposo), A Christmas Carol (Michel Legrand), The Phantom Tollbooth (Arnold Black and co-librettist Norton Juster) and Dragons (for which he wrote book, lyrics and music). He has contributed songs to the films The Heartbreak Kid, Blame It on Rio (Cy Coleman) and Aaron’s Magic Village (Legrand). In the world of opera, he has provided librettos for Jack Beeson’s Cyrano, Dr. Heidegger’s Fountain of Youth and Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines, Henry Mollicone’s Coyote Tales and Thomas Z. Shepard’s Love in Two Countries. Mr. Harnick has won two Tony Awards, two Grammy Awards, three gold records and a platinum record. He and his wife Margery have two children, Beth and Matthew. He is a longtime member of the Dramatists Guild and Songwriters Guild.
JERRY BOCK (Music). Jerry Bock was born in New Haven on November 23, 1928. Thirty years later he and Sheldon Harnick gave birth to The Body Beautiful in Philadelphia. In between was Catch a Star and Mr. Wonderful (starring Sammy Davis Jr.). Bock and Harnick’s celebrated collaboration yielded five scores in seven years: The Body Beautiful, Fiorello (winner of the B’way triple crown: Tony Award, NY Critics Circle Award, Pulitzer Prize for Drama), Tenderloin, She Loves Me, Fiddler on the Roof (nine Tonys, including Best Musical), The Apple Tree and The Rothschilds. In addition to the silver anniversary production of Fiddler (from which a major excerpt was featured in Jerome Robbins’ Broadway), a highly esteemed revival of The Rothschilds enjoyed a successful run Off-B’way. Bock and Harnick have been inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame, received the Johnny Mercer Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame and were awarded the Spirit of American Creativity Award. But it was the award of an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the U. of Wisconsin that Bock held near and dear, for it was there that he met his wife, and it was there that he decided to be a composer.
SCOTT ELLIS (Director) Elephant Man, You Can’t Take It with You and On the Twentieth Century. He was most recently represented on Broadway with the The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Tony nomination, Best Direction of a Musical; Tony nomination, Best Revival of a Musical), the critically acclaimed production of HARVEY starring Jim Parsons, the Kander and Ebb musical Curtains starring David Hyde Pierce (Tony Nomination, Best Direction of a Musical), The Little Dog Laughed (Lucille Lortel Award Nomination), Twelve Angry Men (Tony Award and Drama Desk nominations), Arthur Miller’s The Man Who Had All The Luck starring Chris O’Donnell, THE Rainmaker starring Woody Harrelson, 1776 (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Tony Award nominations), Company, Steel Pier (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Tony Award nominations), She Loves Me (Drama Desk and Tony Award nominations, Outer Critics Circle Award, Olivier Award for Best Director London Production), Picnic, A Month In The Country Starring Helen Mirren. Off-Broadway Credits Include Gruesome Playground Injuries, The Understudy, Streamers, Mr. And Mrs. Fitch, Good Boys And True, The Waverly Gallery, The Dog Problem, Flora, The Red Menace, Dark Rapture, That Championship Season, and The World Goes ‘Round…The Songs Of Kander And Ebb (Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle nomination). For television, the Executive Producer on Showtime’s “Weeds” for the three years. Other credits include “The Michael J. Fox Show,” “30 Rock” (Emmy Nomination, Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series), “Modern Family,” “Nurse Jackie,” “The Good Wife”, “Hung,” and “The Closer”. A graduate of Chicago Goodman School of Drama and is the Associate Artistic Director of the Roundabout Theatre Company.
Roundabout Theatre Company is committed to producing the highest quality theatre with the finest artists, sharing stories that endure, and providing accessibility to all audiences. A not-for-profit company, Roundabout fulfills its mission each season through the production of classic plays and musicals; development and production of new works by established and emerging writers; educational initiatives that enrich the lives of children and adults; and a subscription model and audience outreach programs that cultivate and engage all audiences.
Roundabout Theatre Company presents a variety of plays, musicals, and new works on its five stages. Off-Broadway, the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, which houses the Laura Pels Theatre and Black Box Theatre, with its simple sophisticated design, is perfectly suited to showcasing new plays. The grandeur of its Broadway home on 42nd Street, American Airlines Theatre, sets the ideal stage for the classics. Roundabout’s Studio 54 provides an exciting and intimate Broadway venue for its musical and special event productions. The Stephen Sondheim Theatre offers a state of the art LEED certified Broadway theatre in which to stage major large-scale musical revivals. Together these distinctive homes serve to enhance Roundabout’s work on each of its stages.
American Airlines is the official airline of Roundabout Theatre Company. Roundabout productions are supported, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Art Works.
Roundabout’s 2014-2015 season includes Coleman, Comden & Green’s On The Twentieth Century starring Kristin Chenoweth and Peter Gallagher, directed by Scott Ellis; Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods and the world premiere of Joshua Harmon’s Significant Other, directed by Trip Cullman.
The 2014-2015 Roundabout Underground production is Little Children Dream of God, a new play by Jeff Augustin, directed by Giovanna Sardelli.
Roundabout’s production of Masteroff, Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret, starring Alan Cumming and Emma Stone, directed by Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall (co-director/choreographer), runs through March 29, 2015 at Studio 54. Sienna Miller will take over the role of “Sally Bowles” on February 17, 2015.
Roundabout’s 50th anniversary season in 2015-2016 includes: Noises Off by Michael Frayn, directed by Jeremy Herrin; and Stephen Karam’s The Humans, directed by Joe Mantello; Keira Knightley making her Broadway debut in a new adaptation of Thérèse Raquin by Helen Edmundson, based upon the novel by Émile Zola, directed by Evan Cabnet and Joe Masteroff, Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock’s She Loves Me, starring Laura Benanti and Josh Radnor, directed by Scott Ellis.
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