The work began previews Oct. 26 and opened Nov. 13 to positive response — especially for leading lady White. The show will close following the matinee performance on Feb. 18, having played 22 previews and 112 performances.
Scott Ellis directs the comedy that debuted Off-Broadway last season at Second Stage. Roy Gabay and Susan Dietz, in association with Second Stage Theatre, produce
Set in a New York City hotel room (among other places), The Little Dog Laughed satirizes the world of tabloid gossip, Hollywood and celebrities in a story that centers around a Hollywood agent who is hot on getting the film rights to a new play for her very up-and-coming boy-toy client. A sexy young drifter and his girlfriend also play into the story .
Original cast members White (as a Hollywood star's voracious agent) and Galecki (a young hustler who connects with the star) are joined by Tom Everett Scott as a star who suffers from a "recurring case of homosexuality" and Ari Graynor as the recently scorned young woman.
"It's sort of the last taboo — which movie stars are gay? Because everyone sort of knows it, but no one talks about it," Beane says about his latest work. "The last time I was in L.A. I mentioned this play to a movie producer. I said, 'It's about a closeted movie star,' and [the producer] literally gasped as if I said it was about a mass murderer. He said, 'Oh no, oh no — don't say that — don't talk about that.'" Stage veteran White — seen on the small screen in "Desperate Housewives" and "Six Feet Under" — has trod the boards in Bad Dates, Fiction, The Heidi Chronicles, Dinner With Friends, Barbra's Wedding, Spike Heels and The Family of Mann.
Scott currently stars in the new TNT series "Saved." The actor is known for his TV and film work on "Grace Under Fire," "ER" and "That Thing You Do!" His stage credits includes Dead End (Ahmanson Theater), Turnaround (Coast Playhouse) and the New York runs of Touch and Beane's The Country Club.
Galecki enjoyed a role on TV's "Roseanne" and film roles in "Happy Endings" and "The Opposite of Sex." On stage, he has performed in Chicago productions of The Drawer Boy, Pot Mom and Galileo.
Graynor last appeared on Broadway in Brooklyn Boy and has also been seen Off-Broadway in Dog Sees God and Spanish Girl as well as film turns in "The Great New Wonderful," "Mystic River" and the upcoming "For Your Consideration."
Ellis directed the recent Roundabout Theatre Company revival of Entertaining Mr. Sloane and the Broadway staging of Twelve Angry Men. Other credits include That Championship Season (at Second Stage Theatre), The Man Who Had All the Luck, The Rainmaker, 1776, She Loves Me, A Month in the Country and Steel Pier. He also helmed the Los Angeles world premiere of the Broadway-bound John Kander and Fred Ebb musical Curtains.
Beane has also penned the plays Music From a Sparkling Planet, The Country Club, Advice From a Caterpillar, White Lies and Devil May Care as well as the screenplay for "To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar." A founding member and artistic director of the Drama Dept., he also recently wrote the book for the Off-Broadway musical The Big Time. He also penned the live soap opera The Cartells.
The Little Dog Laughed began performances Off-Broadway Dec. 13, 2005, and then opened Jan. 9, 2006, to positive critical response, extending the run four more weeks through Feb. 26. White and Galecki were joined Off-Broadway by Neal Huff and Zoe Lister-Jones. Both Galecki and Scott make their Broadway debuts in the production. "As a Chicago boy who can't dance or sing, I didn't have many Broadway ambitions," Galecki told Playbill.com. (For more from the cast, visit the special "The A-List" feature.)
The original design team transferred to Broadway: Allen Moyer (set), Jeff Mahshie (costumes) and Donald Holder (lighting). The production features original music by Lewis Flinn.
Tickets to The Little Dog Laughed at the Cort, 138 West 48th Street, are available by calling (212) 239-6200. For more information on the show, visit secondstagetheatre.com/littledog.
