With reviews ranging from positive to ecstatic, Pride's Crossing has extended its run to April 5, past its scheduled January close. The show opened Dec. 7 at the Mitzi Newhouse Theatre and is the second production of the Lincoln Center Theatre (after Kevin Kline in Ivanov at the Broadway Vivian Beaumont space, which ended Jan. 4.) The production originated at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre.
Lead actress Cherry Jones won a Tony Award for her work in The Heiress and also appeared in The Baltimore Waltz, Paula Vogel's Desdemona, Our Country's Good and Night Of The Iguana.
Joining Jones in the Howe drama are Angie Phillips, recently of All My Sons at the Roundabout, and Dylan Baker (La Bete, Eastern Standard). Phillips leaves Pride Jan. 25 to take a role in Bill Irwin's staging of A Flea In her Ear. Robin Weigert takes her place in Pride.
As he did for Old Globe Theatre, where he serves as artistic director, Jack O'Brien directs the Howe drama, which explores the fictional life of feisty, 91-year-old Mabel Tidings Bigelow, who relives her experiences swimming the English channel, and the aftermath, through flashbacks.
Said O'Brien when he directed the play Jan. 25-March 2 in San Diego, "This play is funny and wise, an allegory of American women during the early 20th century, women who were not given -- particularly by their families -- the awareness that they could be great." Also starring in Crossing are Julia McIlvaine, Casey Biggs, Kandis Chappel and David Lansbury (Hapgood). Designing the show are Ralph Funicello (sets), Robert Morgan (costumes), Jan Hartley (projections), Kenneth Posner (lighting) and Mark Bennett (sound/original music).
Howe's previous works include Painting Churches, One Shoe Off, and The Art Of Dining. Vector Theatre Company, a newly formed Bay Area nonprofit theatre, opened its inaugural season Oct. 18 with the San Francisco premiere of Howe's Museum, a comic parody of the post-modern art scene. For an interview with Howe, please see the feature story, "Tina Howe Taking Pride and Visiting Museum."
For tickets and information on Pride's Crossing call (212) 239 6200.
-- By David Lefkowitz
