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Greenberg's American Plan, With Rabe and Ruehl, Makes Broadway Bow Jan. 2
By Kenneth Jones
02 Jan 2009
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Lily Rabe (top) and Mercedes Ruehl
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| photo by Aubrey Reuben | A mother and daughter face changes in an eventful summer in the Broadway debut of Richard Greenberg's 1990 play, The American Plan, beginning previews Jan. 2 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.
The Manhattan Theatre Club production of the Catskill Mountains-set play stars Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominee Lily Rabe as fragile daughter Lili, and Tony and Academy Award winner Mercedes Ruehl as mother Eva. The play is set in the 1960s.
Kieran Campion, Austin Lysy and Brenda Pressley also star, under the direction of Tony Award nominee David Grindley (Journey's End).
Tony winner Greenberg is known for Take Me Out, Eastern Standard, Three Days of Rain and the current revised revival of Pal Joey.
The limited engagement of The American Plan will officially open Jan. 22. Tickets are on sale through March 15.
According to MTC, "It is the Catskill Mountains in the early 1960s, and Lili Adler [Rabe] and her mother Eva [Ruehl] are spending the summer across the lake from a bustling hotel where comics entertain and buffets overflow. When a handsome young stranger (Kieran Campion) enters their world, the emotionally fragile Lili finds herself falling in love. But once her imperious mother learns of their relationship, lies are exposed, alliances are forged and Lili's one chance to escape her mother's control may be lost forever."
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This marks MTC's eighth collaboration with Greenberg. MTC staged the original New York production of The American Plan in 1990 at MTC's Off-Broadway home at New York City Center – Stage II; the play then transferred to the larger Stage I. Other MTC productions of Greenberg plays include Eastern Standard, The Extra Man, Jenny Keeps Talking, Night and Her Stars, the Pulitzer Prize nominated Three Days of Rain and The Violet Hour.
Campion's Broadway credits include Our Town, Pygmalion and Journey's End. Off-Broadway credits include House and Garden (MTC); Substitution (Soho Playhouse); Everett Beekin (LCT); World of Mirth and The Pope and the Witch. He's a graduate of Colgate University and the British American Drama Academy.
Lysy's credits include Off-Broadway's A Midsummer Night's Dream (Public-NYSF), All That I Will Ever Be (NYTW); The Water's Edge (Second Stage); Manic Flight Reaction, Other People (Playwrights Horizons); Hobson's Choice (Atlantic) and Broadway's Macbeth.
Pressley's Broadway credits include Dreamgirls (original company), Cats, The Moony Shapiro Songbook, and Off-Broadway's The First Breeze of Summer, Mom, How Did You Meet The Beatles?, Seven Guitars, Fran's Bed, Goodwill, Marvin's Room, And the World Goes 'Round: The Songs of Kander and Ebb (Outer Critics Circle Award), Blues in the Night.
Rabe appeared in Broadway's Heartbreak House (Roundabout Theatre Company, Callaway Award, Outer Critics Circle nomination); Steel Magnolias (Lyceum Theatre, Drama Desk nomination) and Off-Broadway's Crimes of the Heart (Roundabout Theatre Company) and Colder Than Here (MCC).
Ruehl starred in the Jonathan Demme film "Married to the Mob." She earned an Academy Award, Golden Globe, L.A. and Chicago Film Critics Society awards for her role in "The Fisher King." Other films include "Warriors," "Big," "Heartburn," "Slaves of New York," "Another You," "Last Action Hero," "Lost in Yonkers" and more. Her career was launched in regional theatres playing works of Shakespeare, Moliere, Shaw, Chekhov and Euripides, and she went on to receive Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Helen Hayes awards for her role in Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers, later reprising her role in the film. Other Broadway credits include The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? (Outer Critics Circle Award, Tony nomination); The Rose Tattoo; Shadow Box (Tony nomination); and I'm Not Rappaport. Off-Broadway credits include The Occupant (Signature), Woman Before a Glass (Obie Award), Other People's Money (Clarence Derwent Award), The Marriage of Bette and Boo (Obie Award), Coming of Age in Soho, The Vagina Monologues and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Guthrie Theatre.
The creative team for The American Plan includes Jonathan Fensom (scenic and costume design), Mark McCullough (lighting design), Darron L West and Bray Poor (sound design) and Tom Watson (wig design).
Single tickets are available via Telecharge.com, by telephone at (212) 239-6200, (800) 432-7250 (outside the NYC metro area) and online at Telecharge.com.
For group ticket information call (800) 432-7780 or visit the Samuel J. Friedman box office at 261 W. 47th Street.
Tickets range in price from $56.50-$96.50. Student rush tickets are available the day of the performance at the Friedman box office for $26.50.
MTC is under the leadership of artistic director Lynne Meadow and executive producer Barry Grove.
For more information on Manhattan Theatre Club, visit www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com.
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The cast of American Plan: Austin Lysy, Kieran Campion, Lily Rabe, Mercedes Ruehl and Brenda Pressley.
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| photo by Aubrey Reuben |
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