Tom Wopat dipped his toe into Broadway's 42nd Street the weekend of June 21 to play gruff director Julian Marsh, and then jetted to the historic Barn Theatre in Michigan to rehearse for a run of Annie Get Your Gun, June 25-July 7.
Wopat is honoring the scheduled Annie gig and returns to 42nd Street July 9. Wopat was Tony-nominated for playing Frank Butler opposite Bernadette Peters in Annie Get Your Gun on Broadway.
"He got his start here in the 1970s and feels very loyal, he feels very much like this is his family," Barn spokeswoman Dee Sandt told Playbill On-Line. "Tickets are flying out of the box office. It's really terrific that he came back, because we advertised it. Anyone else would have said, 'See ya.'"
Wopat played June 21-22 performances of 42nd Street and flew out 6 AM June 23 to rehearse at the Augusta, MI, theatre near Kalamazoo. The "Barnies" had been in rehearsal with Annie Get Your Gun for 10 days.
Wopat is a Broadway veteran of Guys and Dolls and City of Angels, is widely known for his run in the TV series, "The Dukes of Hazzard." Playbill On-Line previously reported he traded the Barn show for the Ford Center for the Performing Arts spectacle, but, in fact, he had pre-arranged the Michigan performance with the Broadway show's producers. Wopat's most recent New York performance was Off Broadway's 9/11 drama, The Guys. Julian Marsh will be played by Michael Dantuono in Wopat's absence.
42nd Street, a 2001 Tony Award winner for Best Musical (Revival), also stars Beth Leavel as Dorothy Brock, Mary Testa as Maggie Jones, Meredith Patterson as Peggy Sawyer, Jonathan Freeman as Bert Barry and David Elder as Billy Lawlor.
For 42nd Street ticket information, call Ticketmaster at (212) 307-4100.
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This is the Barn Theatre's 57th summer of shows under the producer Jack Ragotzy. Annie Get Your Gun plays June 25-July 7 in a season of eight productions. Also part of the season are Little Shop of Horrors (July 9 21), Footloose (July 23-Aug. 4), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Aug. 6-18), True West (Aug. 20-Sept. 1) and The Rocky Horror Show (Sept. 3-8).
For information call (616) 731-4121 or visit www.BarnTheatre.com.
