Mahoney, Parisse, Tudyk to Star in Roundabout’s Prelude to a Kiss

John Mahoney, Annie Parisse, and Alan Tudyk will star in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s revival of Craig Lucas’ 1990 play Prelude to a Kiss, which will run at the American Airlines Theatre, February 16-April 22. The production, to be directed by Tony Award winner Daniel Sullivan, will open officially on March 8. It will also feature Robin Bartlett as Mrs. Boyle, with additional casting to be announced shortly.

The play concerns a pair of happy young newlyweds, Peter and Rita. After a mysterious elderly man appears and kisses the bride at their wedding, the couple is sent on a magical journey and their relationship is put to the test.

The original Off-Broadway production starred Alec Baldwin, Mary-Louise Parker, and Barnard Hughes; when the show transferred to Broadway in May 1990, Timothy Hutton replaced Baldwin. The 1992 film version starred Baldwin, Meg Ryan, and Sydney Walker in the central roles.

Lucas won the Obie Award for the play and was nominated for the Drama Desk Award, Tony Award, and Pulitzer Prize. Among his other works for the stage are Reckless, Missing Persons, The Dying Gaul, Small Tragedy, and The Singing Forest, which will be produced by the Public Theater this spring; in addition, he wrote the book for the musical The Light in the Piazza.

The design team for Prelude to a Kiss includes Santo Loquasto (sets), Jane Greenwood (costumes), Donald Holder (lighting), and John Gromada (sound and original compositions). Sullivan won a Tony Award for Proof and received Tony nominations for Rabbit Hole, The Sisters Rosensweig, Conversations With My Father, and The Heidi Chronicles. His many other credits include Stuff Happens, Julius Caesar, and Sight Unseen.

Mahoney has only appeared once before on Broadway, in John Guare’s The House of Blue Leaves, for which he won the Tony for Best Actor in a Play. Among his numerous other stage credits are Orphans, The Subject Was Roses, The Drawer Boy, Romance, and more than 30 productions with Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater Company. He is best known for his portrayal of Martin Crane on Frasier, for which he received two Emmy Award nominations.

Parisse’s stage credits include the Off-Broadway productions of The Internationalist, The Credeaux Canvas, and Monster. She is well-known to television viewers for her roles of Alexandra Borgia on Law & Order and Julia Lindsay Snyder on As the World Turns. Tudyk previously starred on Broadway in Epic Proportions and Monty Python’s Spamalot. Among his Off-Broadway credits are Bunny Bunny (for which he won a Theatre World Award), Misalliance, The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, and Wonder of the World.