Brian Murray will once again be a farceur, when he reprises his 1983-84 Broadway role in Noises Off at New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse, Jan. 5-Feb. 13, 2000.

Playing a farce director named Lloyd Dallas, Murray will get swept up into the farce-within-a-farce by Michael Frayn. The play was nominated for a Best Play Tony Award in 1984.

James Brennan will direct a cast that includes Anne Rogers as Dottie Otley. Rogers is the British singing stage star (The Boyfriend) who appeared in Paper Mill's Gigi and It Runs In the Family.

Before joining Noises Off rehearsals, Murray wrapped up a pre-New York engagement of the musical, Finian's Rainbow (playing Finian himself) on Dec. 12 in Cleveland. The revival production also played Miami and is waiting for a Broadway theatre to open up before the end of April 2000, the cutoff for Tony Award nominations.

Murray, who appeared in summer 1998 in Lincoln Center Theatre's Twelfth Night, earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor (Featured Role) for The Little Foxes (1997) and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1968). For Paper Mill information, call (973) 376-4343.

-- By Kenneth Jones