Five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman (The Scottsboro Boys, The Producers, Contact) directs and choreographs the musical that has been adapted by Allen from his 1994 film, which he co-wrote with Douglas McGrath. The musical incorporates pre-existing songs from the 1920's and 1930's for its score.
Bullets Over Broadway will begin previews March 11, 2014, towards an April 10 opening night at the St. James Theatre. Letty Aronson and Julian Schlossberg are producing the musical.
Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee Braff ("Scrubs," "Garden State") makes his Broadway debut as playwright David Shayne, with Ashmanskas (Promises, Promises; Present Laughter) as Warner Purcell, Wolfe (Last Five Years, Drood) as Ellen, Lenny Wolpe (The Drowsy Chaperone) as Julian Marx, Hélene Yorke (Grease) as Olive Neal and "Sopranos" actor Vincent Pastore as gangster Nick Valenti.
Additional casting will be announced shortly.
The design team includes Tony Award winners Santo Loquasto (scenic design), William Ivey Long (costume design), Donald Holder (lighting design), Glen Kelly (musical arrangements and supervision), Doug Besterman (orchestrations) and Peter Hylenski (sound design). "Bullets Over Broadway" centers on an aspiring playwright who finds out that his play God of Our Fathers is getting the Broadway treatment thanks to a wealthy gangster who has taken a sudden interest in producing. The only snag is that his dim-witted moll has to star in one of the leading roles. Thrown into the mix are a mafia thug with a real knack for playwrighting and a theatrical grand dame who gives Norma Desmond a run for her money.
The original film starred John Cusack as playwright David Shayne, Dianne Wiest as actress Helen Sinclair, Chaz Palminteri as mobster Cheech and Jennifer Tilly as mob doll Olive Neal. Wiest earned an Academy Award for her performance. Allen's screenplay was Oscar-nominated.
Allen's numerous films include "Annie Hall," "Manhattan," "Crimes and Misdemeanors," "Husbands and Wives," "Love and Death," "Stardust Memories," "Crimes and Misdemeanors," "The Purple Rose of Cairo" and many more (about one a year since the 1970s). His plays include Don't Drink the Water (1966), Death Knocks (1968), Play It Again, Sam (1969), Death (1975), God (1975), The Query (1976), My Apology (1980), The Floating Light Bulb (1981), Death Defying Acts (1995), Writer's Block (2003) and A Second Hand Memory (2004).
For tickets visit telecharge.com.
Visit bulletsoverbroadway.com.
