Stage and screen star Richard Kind, whose Broadway credits include The Producers and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, will play Walter Burns in the Williamstown production of The Front Page with The Coast of Utopia's Robert Stanton as Bensinger. Ron Daniels will direct the Ben Hecht-Charles MacArthur play, which will run July 4-15 on the Main Stage.
The Last Night of Ballyhoo's Jessica Hecht will portray Ruth in Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit, which will also play the Main Stage July 18-29. Hecht's Williamstown credits include Top Girls, Light Up the Sky and The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told. Maria Mileaf directs.
Tony Award winners Elizabeth Franz and Maryann Plunkett, Mr. Marmalade's Mamie Gummer and The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial's Jay O. Sanders will join the previously announced Allison Janney and Constance Tuckerman for the Aug. 15-26 staging of The Autumn Garden on the Main Stage. Franz (Death of a Salesman) will play Mary Ellis, Plunkett (Me and My Girl) will be Rose Griggs, Gummer will portray Sophie Tuckerman and Sanders will be General Benjamin Griggs in the Lillian Hellman work, which will be directed by David Jones.
Daniel Gerroll, whose numerous Broadway credits include Enchanted April, High Society, The Homecoming and Plenty, will join Alicia Witt for the staging of Dissonance June 27-July 8 on the Nikos Stage. Gerroll will play James with Witt — whose London stage credits include Piano Forte and The Shape of Things — as Beth.
Malcolm Gets and Kate Reinders will join the previously announced Hunter Foster and Kaitlin Hopkins for the new musical Party Come Here, which will play the Nikos Stage July 25-Aug. 5. The musical has a book by Daniel Goldfarb and music and lyrics by David Kirshenbaum and will be directed by Christopher Ashley. Gets (Amour) will play Orlando with Reinders (Wicked) as Kate. Gets will also direct the Festival's Late-Night Cabaret series, which runs July 12-14 and Aug. 9-11. Tony and Olivier Award winner Roger Rees will head the cast of The Physicists, which plays the Center Stage Aug. 7-18. Rees will portray Sir Isaac Newton in the Friederich Dürrenmatt work. Kevin O'Rourke directs.
The Glass Menagerie's Sarah Paulson will play Meg Magrath with Heartbreak House's Lily Rabe as Babe Motrello in Beth Henley's Crimes of the Heart, which is scheduled for an Aug. 8-19 run on the Nikos Stage. Recent Olivier Award winner Kathleen Turner will direct.
The season at a glance follows:
Herringbone
Starring B.D. Wong
Book by Tom Cone, Music by Skip Kennon, Lyrics by Ellen Fitzhugh, Based on the play by Tom Cone
Directed by Roger Rees
June 14-24 Center Stage
Dissonance
Starring Daniel Gerroll and Alicia Witt
By Damian Lanigan – World Premiere
Directed by Amanda Charlton
June 27-July 8 Nikos Stage
The Front Page
Starring Richard Kind
By Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur
Directed by Ron Daniels
July 4-15 Main Stage
Villa America
By Crispin Whittell – World Premiere
Directed by Crispin Whittell
July 11-22 Nikos Stage
Blithe Spirit
Starring Jessica Hecht
By Noel Coward
Directed by Maria Mileaf
July 18-29 Main Stage
Party Come Here
Starring Hunter Foster, Malcolm Gets, Kaitlin Hopkins & Kate Reinders
Book by Daniel Goldfarb, music and lyrics by David Kirshenbaum
World Premiere
Directed by Christopher Ashley
July 25-Aug. 5 Nikos Stage
The Corn Is Green
Starring Kate Burton
By Emlyn Williams
Directed by Nicholas Martin
Aug. 1-12 Main Stage
The Physicists
Starring Roger Rees
By Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Translated by James Kirkup
Directed by Kevin O'Rourke
In Association with the Williams College Summer Theatre Lab
Aug. 7-18 Center Stage
Crimes of the Heart
Starring Sarah Paulson & Lily Rabe
By Beth Henley
Directed by Kathleen Turner
Aug. 8-19 Nikos Stage
The Autumn Garden
Starring Elizabeth Franz, Mamie Gummer, Allison Janney, Maryann Plunkett & Jay O. Sanders
By Lillian Hellman
Directed by David Jones
Aug. 15-26 Main Stage
Tickets are available online at wtfestival.org beginning June 1 and at the box office and by phone at (413) 597-3400 beginning June 4.
