Mo Gaffney (The Kathy and Mo Show) will play her last performance in Paula Vogel's Mineola Twins March 28. Gaffney's taking something of a maternity leave, exiting the show because she's four months pregnant. Replacing Gaffney will be Julie Kavner (Lincoln Center's God's Heart). Kavner begins performances March 30.
Kavner has received Emmy Awards for her performance as the voice of Marge Simpson on TV's "The Simpsons" and as Brenda on "Rhoda." Stage credits include Particulars Friendships (Off-Bway), Hold Me at L.A.'s Westwood Playhouse, and in a reading of Jon Robin Baitz's latest A Small Hotel for L.A. Theatreworks Radio Series. Kavner's film credits include: "Hannah and Her Sisters," "Radio Days," "New York Stories," "Alice," "Awakenings," "and "Deconstructing Harry." The rest of the cast, including the production's star, Swoosie Kurtz, are scheduled to stay with the show for the remainder of the run through May 30.
The comedy, developed at the Perseverance Theatre in Alaska and premiered by Trinity Repertory Company in 1997, follows Myrna and Myra (both played by Kurtz) over three decades, beginning with the Eisenhower era. It has been dubbed "a politically incorrect comedy of the sexes."
Designers are Robert Brill with Scott Pask (scenic), Jess Goldstein (costume) and Kevin Adams (lighting).
* Kurtz has received the Tony Award twice, for Lanford Wilson's Fifth of July and the Lincoln Center revival of John Guare's House of Blue Leaves. Other stage appearances include Uncommon Women and Others, and Durang's A History of American Film. Her recent career has been TV-related, with a lead role in "Sisters" and a recurring role in the NBC sitcom, "Suddenly Susan."
Other Vogel plays include the Pulitzer Prize winner: How I Learned to Drive, The Baltimore Waltz and Desdemona.
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Mineola Twins will be the last show at Laura Pels Theatre; the lease for the space is up in May. The Roundabout is renovating the historic Selwyn Theatre on 42nd Street for its new home, set to open in January 2000. Future Off-Broadway shows for Roundabout will run at the Gramercy Theatre and elsewhere.
For tickets to Mineola Twins, or any of Roundabout's shows, call (212) 719-9300.
Twins follows Beth Henley's Impossible Marriage, which ended Jan. 3 at the Pels space. Roundabout's website is http://www.roundabouttheatre.org.
-- By Sean McGrath and
Kenneth Jones
