Tony Award-winning director Walter Bobbie (Chicago, Venus in Fur) directs the Washington, D.C. engagement of the play that premiered at the Philadelphia Theatre Company in January under the direction of Austin Pendleton. Opening is March 18.
Golden Age, which runs through April 4, is being presented as part of the Kennedy Center's Nights at the Opera, a five-week celebration of McNally's plays. The series also includes The Lisbon Traviata (beginning March 20) and Master Class (beginning March 25).
The cast features Tony nominee Marc Kudisch (9 to 5, The Apple Tree) as Tamburini, Jeffrey Carlson (The Goat, Taboo) as Bellini, Hoon Lee (Pacific Overtures, Urinetown) as Lablache, Rebecca Brooksher (Dying City) as Grisi, Roe Hartrampf (The Pillowman) as Florimo, Christopher Michael McFarland as Rubini, Dante Mignucci as Page, Amanda Warren as Malibran, George Morfogen ("Oz," A Man for All Seasons) as Gioachino Rossini and Benjamin Cook (Ragtime at the Kennedy Center) as the Page.
According to press notes, "Golden Age takes place backstage at the Théâtre-Italien in Paris on the evening of Jan. 24, 1835. The occasion is the premiere of Vincenzo Bellini's opera, I Puritani. Assembled are the composer and his faithful friend, Francesco Florimo, and the four singers for whom the opera was expressly composed known the world over as The Puritani Quartet. Bellini's rivalry with his fellow Italian composer, Gaetano Donizetti, for French favor was at its height. This opera was to cement his supremacy. It was to be his last."
The production has set design by Santo Loquasto, costume design by Richard St. Clair, lighting design by Jason Lyons and sound design by Ryan Rumery. McNally earned Tony Awards for his plays Master Class and Love! Valour! Compassion!, as well as the books to the musicals Kiss of the Spider Woman and Ragtime. His works also include The Ritz; Frankie and Johnny at the Claire de Lune; Lips Together, Teeth Apart; Deuce; Some Men; Corpus Christi; Dedication or the Stuff of Dreams; The Lisbon Traviata; The Rink; A Man of No Importance; and The Full Monty. A Broadway revival of Lips Together, Teeth Apart will open in April.
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