(© Joseph Marzullo/Retna)
Ashlie Atkinson has joined the cast of the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of Terrence McNally’s The Ritz in the role of Vivian Proclo, causing the production to cancel its first preview tonight. The production, to be directed by Joe Mantello, will now run September 15-December 2 at Studio 54, with an official opening on October 11. She replaces Caroline Aaron in the role.
First seen on Broadway in 1975, this over-the-top comedy is set in a Manhattan gay bathhouse, where Gaetano Proclo goes to hide from a mobster with unexpected results.
The production will feature Rosie Perez (Googie Gomez), Kevin Chamberlin (Gaetano Proclo), Brooks Ashmanskas (Chris), Patrick Kerr (Claude Perkins), Lucas Near-Verbrugghe (Tiger), Terrence Riordan (Michael Brick), Seth Rudetsky (Sheldon), Adam Sietz (Abe), David Turner (Duff), and Lenny Venito (Carmine Vespucci). The design team will include Scott Pask (sets), William Ivey Long (costumes), and Peggy Eisenhauer and Jules Fiisher (lighting).
Atkinson has appeared Off-Broadway in Fat Pig, for which she received Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations, and The Butcher of Baraboo. Her film and television credits include Rescue Me and the upcoming Margot at the Wedding. She was scheduled to appear in the NYMF production of Roller Derby, and that show is in the process of finding a replacement.
