The company for the Whistle production comprises John Mahoney (Narrator), Audra McDonald (Fay Apple), Patti LuPone (Cora Hoover Hooper), Michael Cerveris (J. Bowden Hapgood), Ray Wills (Comptroller Schub), Jerry Galante (Treasurer Cooley), David Mendes (Chief of Police MacGruder), Johanna McKenzie Miller (Mrs. Schroeder), Peter Mohawk as Dr. Detmold, Stephen Colella as George, Christine Sherrill as June, Jason Bayle as John, Ty Perry as Martin, Gloria Kissel as the Old Lady, Lucia Spina as Osgood, Emily Shoolin as a Candy Striper, Shiri Nicole Gross as Baby Joan, Joshua Logan as the Telegraph Boy and Parris Collier, Darius Fearrington, Richard Strimer and Andrew Waters as the Four Boys.
The Cookies, Deputies, Townspeople and Pilgrims will be played by Michael Accardo, Roger Anderson, Jason Bayle, Karla L. Beard, Max Chung, John Clonts, Stephen Colella, Lauren Creel, Devin Desantis, Berwick Haynes, Danny Heeter, Brian Herriot, Nate Johnson, Joshua Johnston, Gloria Kissel, Jacob Langfelder, Kate Loprest, Johanna Mckenzie Miller, Peter Mohawk, Ty Perry, Jeanai Ratcliffe, Christine Sherrill, Emily Shoolin, Jason Sperling, Lucia Spina, Genevieve Venjohnson and Lakesha Walker.
Whistle is part of the Ravinia's Sondheim 75 series, a five year salute to the works of the famed composer that culminates this summer during the year of Sondheim's 75th birthday. The quirky musical will play Aug. 26-27 in the Pavilion.
Anyone Can Whistle will be directed by Lonny Price with musical direction by Paul Gemignani. The concert will use a version of the musical created by composer Sondheim and book writer Arthur Laurents that was presented at Carnegie Hall with Bernadette Peters and the late Madeline Kahn in the lead roles.
There is also a possibility that the Sondheim 75 celebration may continue after the 2005 season. Kauffman, president and CEO of Ravinia, recently told the Chicago Sun-Times, "We've asked Steve about extending the project, and he was willing. This series has been a wonderful success for us, adding a new flavor to the mix for the traditional Ravinia audience." About the upcoming presentation of Whistle Kauffman said, "I just think that Anyone Can Whistle has a poignant, gorgeous score, and that it's great to go back to such an early work and see what Sondheim was doing in the early 1960s — a very political time." With a score by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Arthur Laurents, Anyone Can Whistle opened at the Majestic Theatre April 4, 1964, with a cast led by multi-Tony Award winner Angela Lansbury, Lee Remick, Harry Guardino, Gabriel Dell, Arnold Soboloff, James Frawley, Peg Murray, Don Doherty, Sterling Clark, Harvey Evans, Larry Roquemore and Tucker Smith. Although the musical played but 21 performances, the Sondheim score contained several thrilling songs: “Me and My Town,” “There Won’t Be Trumpets,” “Anyone Can Whistle,” “Everybody Says Don’t” and “With So Little To Be Sure Of.”
For tickets or more information, visit www.ravinia.org.
