Patti LuPone to Step Into Her Olivier Award-Winning The Cradle Will Rock Role for a One-Night Benefit
(© Tristan Fuge)
Tony winner Patti LuPone will star as Moll in Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock, the role that won her a 1985 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical, in a one-night concert staging on May 19 at Broadway's Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. The event will benefit The Acting Company. Lonny Price (Lincoln Center's Sweeney Todd) will direct, with Michael Barrett, who played the score of the 1980's production, serving as musical director.
The cast will also feature Randle Mell, David Schramm (Finian's Rainbow), Tom Robbins (Newsies), Henry Stram (Antony and Cleopatra), Brian Reddy (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Casey Biggs, Mary Lou Rosato, Charles Shaw-Robinson, Derek Smith (The Lion King), Pamela Nyber, Fred Arsenault (Born Yesterday), and Suzy Kohane.
The Cradle Will Rock, set in "Steeltown, USA," focuses on the efforts of the area's workers to combat a greedy businessman who controls the town.
The Acting Company was cofounded by John Houseman, producer of Cradle's original 1937 production and director of the revival starring LuPone nearly 50 years later.
Tickets will go on sale next month.
(© Diane Gorodnitzki)
