Tony Award winner John Rando (Urinetown; A Christmas Story, The Musical) directs the evening of six one-act comedies that began previews Jan. 23 and will run through March 17. Peter and the Starcatcher cast members Elrod and Saldivar are joined by Harris (Silence! The Musical), Clem (Blue Man Group) and Rooth, who covered the role of Vanda in Ives' Venus in Fur on Broadway.
All in the Timing, according to Primary Stages, features "Sure Thing and The Universal Language which have become contemporary classics..." The production marks the first major New York revival of the piece that premiered at Primary Stages in 1993 and ran for over 600 performances.
"It's been surprising fun to go back to these plays," Ives said in a recent interview with Playbill.com. "I thought it might be hard because I haven't done anything like this where I've revisited something after this length of time — and something that was so special because, at the time, no theatre in town accepted All in the Timing except Primary Stages. It had been turned down by every theatre in town."
He continued, "Each one of these little plays were a little education in some particular aspect of theatre. The Universal Language is about how far you can go with people speaking gibberish. Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread — how much of a musical you can write in six minutes without having an orchestra. Each one of these was a challenge, and it's been nothing but fun revisiting them (knock wood)."
Read Playbill's feature with playwright Ives here. "All in the Timing was an important play both for David Ives' writing career and for the life of Primary Stages," said Primary Stages executive producer Casey Childs in a statement. "It began at our first home on West 45th Street and has now received thousands of productions all over the world. We are delighted to be presenting this 20th Anniversary production."
The production has scenic design by Beowulf Boritt, costume design by Anita Yavich, lighting design by Jason Lyons and original music and sound design by Ryan Rumery.
Primary Stages performs at 59E59 Theaters. Visit PrimaryStages.org.
