As previously announced, the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical will feature John Bolton (Curtains) as President Wintergreen, Andy Gale (Side Show) as Vice President Throttlebottom, Amy Justman (Company) as Mary Turner and American baritone Marcus DeLoach as the French Ambassador.
Additional casting includes Gretchen Bieber (Hairspray) as Miss Benson, Brian Russell (The Farnsworth Invention) as Louis Lippman, Doug Shapiro as Francis X. Gilhooley, Rich Silverstein as Matthew Arnold Fulton, Tom Treadwell (Annie) as Senator Robert E. Lyons, John Deyle (Urinetown) as Senator Carver Jones, Chad Harlow as Sam Jenkins and Michael Dantuono (42nd Street) as Chief Justice.
The Of Thee I Sing ensemble comprises Nikol Wolf, Jennifer Sheehan, Natalie Reder, Lauren Lukacek, Don Whitmore, Christopher Williams, Danny Visconti and Mitchell Walker.
Will Pomerantz directs and choreographs the Bard staging that runs through Aug. 10. James Bagwell will conduct the production that includes set design by Louisa Thompson, costume design by Carol Bailey and lighting design by Justin Townsend.
Created by George and Ira Gershwin with George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, Of Thee I Sing, according to press notes, is "about Wintergreen's bid for the presidency on a platform of 'love,' and the search by his handlers for a hook to snare voters: a beauty contest, staged to find him a bride (Miss White House). But Wintergreen falls for a secretary named Mary Turner and her mouthwatering corn muffins instead of their choice, Diana Deveraux. The spurned beauty queen, of French descent, seeks justice with help from her ancestral countrymen. It turns out (in a rollicking choral number), that she is 'the illegitimate daughter of the illegitimate son of the illegitimate nephew of Napoleon,' and the French try to turn the incident into an international scandal. Mary Turner Wintergreen saves the day when she announces that she is pregnant – no one would dare impeach a president about to become a father!" For tickets and further information phone (845) 758-7900 or visit www.summerscape.bard.edu.
