Garber and Ashmanskas Share Present Laughter at Boston's Huntington

By Ernio Hernandez
18 May 2007

Victor Garber and Brooks Ashmanskas star in Present Laughter.
Victor Garber and Brooks Ashmanskas star in Present Laughter.
Photo by Aubrey Reuben

Stage and screen actor Victor Garber heads the cast of the Huntington Theatre Company's staging of Noël Coward's Present Laughter, which begins previews in Boston May 18. Current Tony Award nominee Brooks Ashmanskas is also featured in the company.

Huntington artistic director Nicholas Martin directs the Coward comedy that closes out the Massachusetts company's 25th anniversary season. With an opening night slated for May 23, the limited engagement will play through June 17.

Garber portrays the "self-absorbed aging matinee idol Garry Essendine whose agents, managers, house staff, and paramours create a dysfunctional surrogate family," according to show materials.

Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me's Tony Award-nominated star Ashmanskas appears as Roland Maule with Lisa Banes (Arcadia), Nancy Carroll (Huntington's The Rose Tattoo), Alice Duffy (Huntington's Les Liaisons Dangereuses), Holley Fain (Frank's Home), Pamela Gray (Huntington's Butley), Sarah Hudnut (Huntington's The Cherry Orchard), James Joseph O'Neil (Huntington's A Month in the Country), Richard Snee (Huntington's The Sister's Rosensweig) and Marc Vietor (Mr. Marmalade).

The design team includes Alexander Dodge (scenic), Mariann Verheyen (costume), Rui Rita (lighting) and Drew Levy (sound).

Known for his television turns on "Alias" and "Justice," Garber has played on Broadway in Deathtrap, Sweeney Todd, Arcadia, Art, Noises Off, Damn Yankees, Little Me, You Never Can Tell, Lend Me A Tenor, Two Shakespearean Actors and Off-Broadway in Assassins, Love Letters, Wenceslas Square and Ghost. Other credits include the films "Titanic," "Sleepless in Seattle," "Legally Blonde" and the TV versions of "Annie" and "The Music Man." Garber was recently seen in the City Center Encores! production of Follies, and his new series "Eli Stone" was just picked up by ABC.

The Coward work replaced David Rabe's Streamers, which was rescheduled due to director Scott Ellis' duties on the Broadway musical Curtains. The Rabe drama will now land at the Huntington for a Nov 9-Dec. 9 run as part of the upcoming season.

Tickets to Present Laughter at the Huntington's B. U. Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave. in Boston, MA, are available by phone at (617) 266-0800 or online at www.huntingtontheatre.org.