The Lincoln Center Theatre production of Jean Anouilh's 1947 classic Ring Round the Moon, has just taken on a few more theatre veterans. Previously announced were multiple Tony-winner Irene Worth and English actor Toby Stephens. Now added to that company are such familiar theatre names as Simon Jones, Frances Conroy, Candy Buckley and Fritz Weaver.
Ring Round The Moon concerns twins brothers and the old woman who tries to control them. Stephens will play twins in the drama, while Worth will be the old aunt.
Jones was last seen on Broadway in the short-lived The Herbal Bed. Conroy received rave reviews for her performance in Arthur Miller's The Ride Down Mt. Morgan at the Public Theatre last fall. (That production, with Conroy and Patrick Stewart in it, may return to Broadway this coming autumn, Miller has told Playbill On-Line.)
Buckley's credits include Defying Gravity and The Petrified Prince, both Off-Broadway. Veteran Weaver's credits stretch back four decades. He made his Broadway debut in 1955 in The Chalk Garden and has appeared in such productions as The Crucible and, more recently, The Professional at Circle Rep in 1995.
Worth's career spans 50 years. She won a Tony Award for both Tiny Alice and Lost in Yonkers, as well as a 1975-76 revival of Sweet Bird of Youth. Off-Broadway work included a Public Theatre staging of Coriolanus, opposite Morgan Freeman. Stephens who recently essayed roles in visiting productions of two Racine plays -- Phedre and Brittanicus -- at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Also in the cast are Richard Clarke, Haviland Morris and Francie Swift. Gerald Gutierrez (The Heiress, A Delicate Balance), will direct. Previews begin April 1; opening night is April 28.
Anouilh was last represented on Broadway by the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of The Rehearsal, starring Francis Conroy and Roger Rees. His other plays included Antigone, The Cry of the Peacock, and The Waltz of the Toreadors
Tickets to the Moon go onsale March 14 via telecharge, (212) 239 6200. The box office opens March 15 at the Belasco.
