Thursday, February 20, 2014
Press Contact: Matt Polk, Wayne Wolfe, Colgan McNeil, Sasha Pensanti ([email protected])
CHRISTOPHER J. HANKE
BEGINS HIS SHIFT IN THE CELLAR
ON TUESDAY, MARCH 18, 2014
BUYER & CELLAR
MICHAEL URIE
LAUNCHES BUYER & CELLAR FIRST NATIONAL TOUR
CHICAGO’S BROADWAY PLAYHOUSE AT WATER TOWER PLACE
MAY 6 – JUNE 15, 2014
WASHINGTON D.C.’s HARMAN CENTER FOR THE ARTS
June 20 – June 29, 2014
LOS ANGELES’ MARK TAPER FORUM
July 9-August 17, 2014
TORONTO’s PANASONIC THEATRE
November 12 – 30, 2014
Click here for first look photo of Christopher Hanke as Alex More
Producers Darren Bagert, Dan Shaheen and Ted Snowdon are proud to announce that Broadway leading man Christopher J. Hanke (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying) will begin performances as Alex More in the smash hit comedy Buyer & Cellaron Tuesday, March 18, 2014 at the Barrow Street Theatre (27 Barrow Street). Current star Michael Urie (“Ugly Betty”) will launch the first national tour at Chicago’s Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Placebeginning Tuesday, May 6, 2014, through Sunday, June 15, 2014, followed by an engagement at Washington D.C.’s Harman Center for the Arts from Friday, June 20, 2014 through Sunday, June 29, 2014. Buyer & Cellar, starring Michael Urie will then play Los Angeles’ Mark Taper Forum for six weeks from Wednesday, July 9, 2014 through Sunday, August 17, 2014. Buyer & Cellar will play additional cities through December 2014 including a four-week engagement at Toronto’s Panasonic Theatre from Wednesday, November 12, 2014 through Thursday, November 30, 2014 (Casting TBD). Buyer & Cellar, which recouped its initial investment faster than any Off-Broadway show in recent history and continues to break box office records, is written by Jonathan Tolins and directed by Stephen Brackett.
The critically acclaimed hit comedy Buyer & Cellar swept the Best of 2013 Theater lists including The New York Times, Associated Press, The Hollywood Reporter, New York Post, New York Daily News, NPR, Newsday, The Huffington Post, AM New York, The New York Observer, The Advocate, The Daily Beast, Entertainment Weekly, NBC New York, Playbill, Towleroad, Gay City News and Time Out New York.
Buyer & Cellar had its world premiere in April 2013 at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, where it received rave reviews and played a sold-out, extended run before transferring to the Barrow Street Theatre where it opened June 24, 2013.
Buyer & Cellar plays Friday through Wednesday at 7:30pm and Saturday and Sunday at 2:30pm at the Barrow Street Theatre (27 Barrow Street, east of Seventh Avenue South). Beginning Tuesday, March 18, Buyer & Cellar plays Tuesday through Sunday at 7:30pm and Saturday and Sunday at 2:30pm. There will be no 7:30pm performances on Sunday, March 30, Sunday, June 8 and Friday, July 4. There will be additional performances on Wednesday, March 19, Wednesday, March 26, Wednesday, April 16 and Wednesday, June 11 all at 2:30pm, and Monday, June 30 at 7:30pm. Tickets, which are now on sale through August 31, may be purchased by phoning 212 868-4444 or by visiting www.smarttix.com. The Barrow Street Theatre box office opens daily at 1pm.
BIOGRAPHIES
CHRISTOPHER J. HANKE worked in guest starring roles on “The Client List” and “Major Crimes” in 2013. He also recently finished playing the role of “Tommy Boatright” in “The Normal Heart.” He is perhaps most noted for starring as “Bud Frump” in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying on Broadway. He recurred in the final season of the HBO series “Big Love,” and guest starred on “Brothers and Sisters.” It should be noted that “Big Love” casting and producers responded to Christopher so much that they expanded the arc of his character. Christopher starred in CBS series “Three Rivers” as a series regular. Previous to that, he was part of the critically acclaimed casts Cry Baby on Broadway, and Hair in Central Park.
MICHAEL URIE received the Drama Desk Award, Clarence Derwent Award, and nominations for the Drama League and Outer Critics Circle awards for originating the role of Alex More in Buyer & Cellar at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. New York theatre credits include How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Broadway), The Cherry Orchard (CSC), Angels in America (Signature), The Temperamentals (Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk and Theatre World awards, Drama League nomination), The Revenger’s Tragedy (Red Bull), Another Vermeer (HB Playwrights). Regionally, Urie has worked for The Old Globe, Vineyard Playhouse, South Coast Rep, Seattle Rep, Folger Shakespeare, Barrington Stage, Hyde Park (Austin) and The Blank (L.A.). Film: He’s Way More Famous Than You (also directed), Thank You for Judging (co-director/exec. producer), Beverly Hills Chihuahua, WTC View, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, The Decoy Bride, Petunia and the upcoming Such Good People, The Hyperglot (director) and Grantham & Rose (exec. producer). TV: “Hot in Cleveland,” “Partners” and Marc St. James on “Ugly Betty.” Training: Juilliard.
JONATHAN TOLINS (Playwright) is the author of Buyer & Cellar, which was named Best Unique Theatrical Experience by the Off-Broadway Alliance when it premiered at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. Other plays include The Twilight of the Golds (Broadway, Booth Theatre), If Memory Serves (Promenade), The Last Sunday in June (Rattlestick, Century Center) and Secrets of the Trade (Primary Stages). A collection of his plays has been published by Grove/Atlantic. His film work includes The Twilight of the Golds and Martian Child. For television, he was a writer for “Queer as Folk,” The Academy Awards, The Tony Awards and “Partners.” He was the author of Pushkin 200: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall, acted as script consultant on Walking with Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular, and co-wrote The Divine Millennium Tour and The Showgirl Must Go On for Bette Midler. He has written articles for Opera News, Opera Monthly, TheaterWeek, Time magazine and The Huffington Post, and is a panelist on the Metropolitan Opera Radio Quiz. He lives in Fairfield, Connecticut with his husband, the writer and director Robert Cary, and their children, Selina and Henry. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Writers Guild of America.
STEPHEN BRACKETT (Director). NYC credits include Jonathan Tolins’ Buyer & Cellar (Rattlestick), Dan Fishback’s The Material World (Dixon Place), Micheline Auger’s American River (Lesser America), Bekah Brunstetter’s Nothing is the End of the World (Except for the End of the World) (Waterfall), Chad Beckim’s After (Partial Comfort), Brunstetter’s Be a Good Little Widow (Ars Nova), The Tenant (Woodshed Collective), David Mixner’s From the Front Porch(Dixon Place), Nick Jones and Rachel Shukert’s The Sporting Life (Studio 42), Rick Viede’sWhore (Summer Play Festival) and Bixby Elliot’s PN1923.45 LS01 Volume 2 (Culture Project). Regional credits include The Trouble With Doug (TheatreWorks) and Kilroy Was Here; A STyx Rock Opera (Williamstown). Stephen is a company member of Lesser America and Partial Comfort, and an alumnus of the Soho Rep Lab.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON BUYER & CELLAR VISIT:
www.Facebook.com/BuyerAndCellar
EVERYONE LOVES BUYER & CELLAR!
“A triumph! I tell you to GO. The most talked about new comedy of the season. It goes down as easily and tastily as lemon sorbet, and the only pain in your stomach it creates is the kind that comes from laughing too hard.”
–The New York Times
“Hilarious! Beyond brilliant. This show will go down like butta.”
– Entertainment Weekly
“The show is a crowd-pleaser.”
– New Yorker
“It’s a Funny-Girl Babs inspired comedy”
– New York Post
“This play deserves a hearty, ‘Hello, gorgeous.’”
– New York Daily News
“A delectable treat…uproariously funny.”
– The Huffington Post
“A Smash Hit!”
– NBC NY
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