Theater News

Caulfield, Duquesnay, Mulgrew, et al. Set for MTC’s Our Leading Lady

Kate Mulgrew(© Joseph Marzullo/Retna)
Kate Mulgrew
(© Joseph Marzullo/Retna)

Casting has been completed for Manhattan Theatre Club’s upcoming production of Charles Busch’s Our Leading Lady, which will begin performances on February 22 and will open officially on March 20 at MTC-Stage II at City Center. The production will be directed by Lynne Meadow, MTC’s artistic director.

The show will feature Reed Birney as Gavin DeChamblay, Barbara Bryne as Maude Bentley, Maxwell Caulfield as Harry Hawk, Ann Duquesnay as Madame Wu-Chan, J.R. Horne as Major Hopwood, Kate Mulgrew as Laura Keene, Kristine Nielsen as Verbena Morris, Amy Rutberg as Clementine Smith, and Billy Wheelan as W.J. Ferguson. The design team includes Santo Loquasto (sets), Jane Greenwood (costumes), Brian MacDevitt (lighting), and Scott Lehrer (sound).

In Our Leading Lady, American stage luminary Laura Keene prepares to perform at Ford’s Theatre on the fateful night when Abraham Lincoln is in the audience. Busch is the author and star of such plays as The Lady in Question, Red Scare on Sunset, and Vampire Lesbians of Sodom. His comedy The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, directed by Meadow, ran for 777 performances on Broadway after premiering at MTC.

Birney is currently onstage in Dark Matters; he appeared Off-Broadway in Stuff Happens and Bug, for which he received an Obie Award. Bryne was in the original Broadway productions of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods and Sunday in the Park With George; this fall, she was seen in the McCarter Theatre’s production of Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party. Caulfield has appeared on the New York stage in such shows as My Deah, Tryst, and Entertaining Mr. Sloane. Duquesnay, a Tony Award winner for Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk, was last seen on Broadway in Hot Feet. Horne appeared in the 2001 Broadway revival of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.

Mulgrew starred Off-Broadway as Katharine Hepburn in Tea at Five and is well known for her role of Captain Kathryn Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager. Nielsen’s many stage credits include MTC’s Based on a Totally True Story, Wonder of the World, and Comic Potential. Rutberg’s has appeared in such shows as Bat Boy and The Civil War. Wheelan’s stage credits include The Butcherhouse Chronicles and In Between The Sheets.

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Our Leading Lady

Closed: April 22, 2007