By Kenneth Jones
30 Jun 2008

Craig Bierko

The world premiere Broadway production of Nick Whitby's To Be Or Not To Be, based on the 1942 motion picture, will star Peter Benson, Craig Bierko and Jan Maxwell, among others, Manhattan Theatre Club announced June 30.

The production will mark Whitby's New York playwrighting debut. He drew on the Ernst Lubitsch film classic for this project.

Bierko (The Music Man) and Jan Maxwell (Coram Boy, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) will head the cast, which will also feature Peter Benson (The Pajama Game), Steve Kazee (Monty Python's Spamalot), Michael McCarty (Mary Poppins), Kristine Nielsen (Les Liaisons Dangereuses, MTC's Our Leading Lady), Brandon Perler (Broadway debut), Rocco Sisto (Iphigenia 2.0), and Marina Squerciati (MTC's Beauty of the Father).

The production will be directed by three-time Tony Award nominee Casey Nicholaw (The Drowsy Chaperone, Monty Python's Spamalot).

Performances start Sept. 11 at the Biltmore Theatre (261 W. 47th Street) toward an Oct. 2 opening.

According to MTC, "At the Polski Theatre in 1939 Warsaw, Joseph (Bierko) and Maria Tura (Maxwell) are about to open yet another smash with their theatrical troupe. As the German invasion gets underway, the theatre is closed by the censors, forcing the troupe to face desperate times. But when a handsome young bomber pilot enlists their help to catch a spy, what is a group of actors to do? This hilarious black comedy is an ingenious commentary on the World War II era and an inspired tribute to the timeless joys of the theatre."

Complete casting will be announced in the coming weeks.

The creative team includes Anna Louizos (scenic design), Gregg Barnes (costume design), Howell Binkley (lighting design), Darron L West (sound design) and Josh Marquette (hair design).

Visit www.manhattantheatreclub.com.