Stephen Bogardus, the Tony-nominated Love! Valour! Compassion! star, will appear in the New England premiere of the musical, I Sent a Letter to My Love, in September.
Bogardus, who was most recently on Broadway in James Joyce's The Dead, will star in the North Shore Music Theatre presentation of the Melissa Manchester musical Sept. 3-22. The romantic musical by Grammy Award-winner Manchester and dramatist Jeffrey Sweet debuted Off-Broadway in 1995 with a cast that included Lynne Winterstellar and Robert Westenberg. Based on a novel by Bernice Rubens, the musical concerns a brother and sister who unwittingly write lonely-heart love letters to each other.
Directed by Patricia Birch (choreographer of Broadway's Grease and Pacific Overtures), the musical co-stars Diana Canova, the "Soap" actress who appeared in the Roundabout Theatre's revival of Company (and the current Rupert Holmes thriller, Thumbs, in Nyack, NY), and Cass Morgan, who starred on Broadway in Disney's Beauty and the Beast as well as the Off-Broadway and regional musical, The Immigrant.
Bogardus is no stranger to I Sent a Letter to My Love, having performed in the L.A. Theatre Works production of this intimate musical, part of its The Play's the Thing series, which was broadcast on KCRW radio. Perhaps best known for his work as Whizzer in William Finn's March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland (which were combined to form Broadway's award-winning Falsettos), Bogardus' other New York theatre credits include King David, The Grapes of Wrath, Les Misérables, West Side Story and the City Center Encores! productions of Allegro and Sweet Adeline.
About the original Off-Broadway production of I Sent a Letter to My Love, New York Post reviewer Clive Barnes wrote, "[This is a] sweet and gentle new musical...let me add moving and tuneful, poignant...or how about altogether delightful, a charmer, a winner, a delight." The North Shore Music Theatre, one of the country's leading regional theatres, is located on Dunham Road in Beverly, Massachusetts. Tickets for its musicals are priced from $24 to $62 and may be purchased by calling (978) 232-7200 or by visiting www.nsmt.org.
—By Andrew Gans
