SAN DIEGO -- Emmy Award-winning Daniel J. Travanti ("Hill Street Blues") has been signed to star in Jon Marans' Old Wicked Songs, which will open at the Old Globe Theatre's Cassius Carter Centre Stage on May 27 for a five-week run. Richard Seer is the director.

Travanti will play the role of music professor Josef Mashkan in Marans' much acclaimed two-person play. Travanti, who last appeared at the Old Globe in The Taming of the Shrew (1977), has extensive stage credits: Only Kidding at the Cleveland Playhouse, I Never Sang for My Father (national tour) and A Touch of the Poet at American Repertory Theatre, among others.

Also featured will be 1999 MFA graduate Peter Smith in the role of the young piano prodigy Stephen Hoffman. Smith recently appeared as Peter the Piano Player in the Globe's Festival '99 production of Brendan Behan's The Hostage.

Old Globe Theatre is located in Balboa Park. For tickets and information call (619) 239-2255.

-- By Willard Manus
Southern California Correspondent