British playwright Jonathan Harvey's Beautiful Thing will make its New York debut at the Cherry Lane Theatre, Feb. 14 for an open ended run. The play's American premiere was mounted last May by Chicago's Famous Door Theatre with Gary Griffin directing. Griffen and his entire Chicago cast will transfer over for the New York stint.

Beautiful Thing first saw the light of day at London's Bush Theatre in a production that starred a then-unknown Johnny Lee Miller (subsequently to achieve fame as Sickboy in the film, "Trainspotting") as one of two teen-age boys acting on his dawning sexuality.

A Donmar Warehouse production in London in 1993 was a recast restaging, and subsequently transferred to the Duke of York's, before it was turned into a warmly-embraced movie.

The play captures the awakening love between two male teenagers growing up in southeast London.

Chicago director Griffin is one of the hottest resident directors in Chicago, recently nominated for four Best Director Jeff Awards last month for musicals staged in 1997-98. He recently staged the Chicago premiere of Gross Indecency at the Court Theatre and is an artistic associate at Apple Tree Theatre. This production would mark his Off Broadway debut. With Beautiful Thing making it to Off-Broadway, it would be the second hit Chicago show to arrive this season. Killer Joe, a big hit for Evanston, IL's Next Theatre in 1993, is currently receiving a commercial production in Soho starring Amanda Plummer.

-- By Sean McGrath, Ken Jones and Robert Simonson