Hall appeared as the seductive Mrs. Robinson in the West End run of the adaptation by Terry Johnson, and Bracco joined the Broadway cast in fall 2002.
Hall will launch the tour at San Francisco's Curran Theatre in August (a date will be announced shortly) and stick with the company through Nov. 9, which brings her to San Diego's Civic, Bass Hall in Austin, TX, the Hobby Center in Houston, The Wilshire in Los Angeles and two more weeks to be determined.
Although Terry Johnson previously staged the play, another director will helm the road run. A previous casting notice indicated Peter Lawrence as director, but that could not be confirmed.
Bracco, known for her work on TV's "Sopranos," will join the tour Jan. 5, 2004, at Baltimore's Mechanic Theatre and stay through the Chicago run at the Shubert Theatre (Feb. 23-March 8, 2004). In between, she'll play the Memorial in Raleigh, NC, the Colonial Theatre in Boston, the Babara Mann Center in Ft. Myers, FL, the Auditorium in Birmingham, AL.
In late 2003, the tour (with a Mrs. Robinson to be announced), will play the Fox Cities Theatre in Appleton, WI, the State Theatre in Minneapolis, Clowes Auditorium in Indianapolis, the Ohio Theatre in Coumbus, the Kentucky Center in Louisville, the Aronoff in Cincinnati, the Heinz in Pittsburgh. Casting is ongoing for the company. Dates are booked through summer 2004, but some markets have not yet announced engagements.
Actress Hall's credits include U.S. and West End productions of Bus Stop and the West End productions of The Vagina Monologues and The Play What I Wrote (including a special appearance in Belfast). She recently appeared as Sugar in Bud Shrake's Benchmark, directed by Michael Rudman at the New End Theatre in Hampstead.
She was the celebrity guest star with the North American tour of The Vagina Monologues and recently toured England with Picasso's Women, a 52-minute monologue. Her film credits include "Freejack," "Urban Cowboy," "Batman," "Princess Caribou" and more. Born in Gonzales, TX, she moved to Paris at the age of 16 to begin a successful international modeling career. Hall is the author of the bestseller "Tall Tales."
This version of The Graduate, first seen in London, began Broadway previews March 15, 2002, at the Plymouth Theatre and opened April 4, 2002. Like the film, it included songs by Simon & Garfunkle. The seriocomic play about a college graduate's uncertain future and conflicting desires was not a critical success, but was a huge hit with the audience. Movie stars Kathleen Turner, Jason Biggs ("American Pie") and Alicia Silverstone ("Batman and Robin") were the original Broadway stars, respectively playing Mrs. Robinson, daughter Elaine and nervous grad Benjamin Braddock.
Crowds would gather at the stage door after the show and cheer the cast members as they exited. Those fans did not notice Frank Langella and Alan Bates, across the street at the Music Box stage door, anonymously slipping into their cars. Langella and Bates both won 2002 Tony Awards for their work in Fortune's Fool, the same season The Graduate bowed.
The Graduate was also a box-office hit in pre-Broadway engagements in Baltimore, Toronto and Boston. Some wags speculate interest in the play was sparked by the brief nude scene at the top of Act One, in which Turner, Bracco and other appear in dim light in the famous seduction scene (remembered from the film that starred Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft).
On Broadway, The Graduate played a total of 380 performances and 24 previews. Directed by Mike Nichols, the original film also starred Katharine Ross as Elaine Robinson. Nichols won an Academy Award for Best Director, and the film also received Oscar nominations for Hoffman, Bancroft and Ross as well as Best Cinematography (Robert Surtees), Best Picture (Lawrence Turman) and Best Writing (screenplay based on material from another medium—Calder Willingham and Buck Henry).
Designers on Broadway were Rob Howell (set and costumes) and Hugh Vanstone (lighting).
