By Robert Simonson
01 Aug 2006

The audience at the July 31 performance of the Broadway-bound Off-Broadway hit Spring Awakening saw a familiar, if unexpected, face on the stage of the Atlantic Theater Company.

Kate Burton, filling in for an ailing Mary McCann, played the musical's various adult female roles at the performance. Burton—an ATC veteran—stepped in after having had one rehearsal. The Tony-nominated actress (Hedda Gabler, The Constant Wife) was familar with the show, having performed the material at a 2005 edition of the American Songbook series at Lincoln Center.

McCann will return to the show for the Aug. 1 performance.

The coming Broadway production of the show—which has been selling out nightly at the Atlantic—will be produced by Ira Pittelman, Tom Hulce and the Atlantic Theater Company. It will be the Atlantic's second Broadway transfer this year, following The Lieutenant of Inishmore.

Pittelman's long-time producing partner Emanuel Azenberg will serve as General Manager for the production on Broadway. Venue, dates and additional information are to be announced at a later date.

The Duncan Sheik-Steven Sater rock musical, based on the scandalous 1891 play about troubled teens, opened to positive reviews by critics, who welcomed the show as something new and vigorously different. It quickly extended four weeks.