Evan Pappas, late of Parade and My Favorite Year, will slip into the Putting It Together role originated by Bronson Pinchot, who slipped three weeks ago in the Broadway musical and tore a calf muscle.
Pappas begins performances as the Observer in the "review" of Stephen Sondheim songs Jan. 4, continuing to Jan. 9. By Jan. 11, Pinchot is expected to be recovered from the injury, which occurred at the end of the Dec. 12 performance, according to a spokesman.
Pappas will be one of five in the cast of the revue at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. He plays opposite Kathie Lee Gifford Jan. 4, and Carol Burnett Jan. 5-9. Also in the company are John Barrowman, George Hearn and Ruthie Henshall.
Pinchot may be best known for the role of Balki in the popular TV series, "Perfect Strangers," and for his brief, pungent work in "Beverly Hills Cop." Since Dec. 12, Pinchot's standby, David Engel, went on in the role, singing "Buddy's Blues," "Everybody Ought To Have a Maid," "Bang!" and "Invocation and Instructions to the Audience," as well as group numbers.
Gifford plays Tuesday performances, allowing Burnett a long weekend. The tuner, with more than 30 Sondheim songs in a conceptual, abstract cocktail party setting, opened Nov. 21, 1999. Previews began Oct. 30.
Bob Avian (Miss Saigon) choreographs.
Putting It Together (which pulls its title from a song in Sondheim and James Lapine's Sunday in the Park With George) has its roots in a 1992 English production devised by Sondheim and Julia McKenzie. She directed that version at the Old Fire Station, Oxford, England , and Cameron Mackintosh, who nurtured Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, produced.
The show had its New York City premiere in 1993 at Manhattan Theatre Club, by special arrangement with Mackintosh. Julie Andrews led a McKenzie-directed cast.
Now, Andrews' old pal, Burnett, is in the role of The Wife. The stock characters in the Broadway production are known as The Husband (Hearn), The Younger Man (Barrowman), The Younger Woman (Henshall) and The Observer (Pinchot).
This new production is an extension of an October-December 1998 staging seen at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. The creative team for the California run was the same, but John McCook played The Husband and Susan Egan (Triumph of Love) was The Younger Woman.
The two-act Putting It Together includes 33 songs and an entr'acte (orchestrated by longtime Sondheim collaborator Jonathan Tunick). Shows represented include The Frogs, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Anyone Can Whistle, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park With George, Into the Woods, Assassins, the film "Dick Tracy" and the unproduced TV musical, "Do You Hear a Waltz?"
Putting Together together are designers Bob Crowley (set and costumes), Howard Harrison (lighting), Andrew Bruce and Mark Menard (sound). Burnett's costume is by Bob Mackie. Wendall K. Harrington provides projections. Paul Raiman is musical director.
For ticket information, call (212) 239-6200.
