Beane-Flinn Musical Give It Up! to Feature Rannells, Murin and Holbrook

By Adam Hetrick
23 Dec 2009

Give It Up! stars Patti Murin and Andrew Rannells
Give It Up! stars Patti Murin and Andrew Rannells

Andrew Rannells, Patti Murin and Curtis Holbrook will star in the Dallas world premiere of Give It Up!, the new Lysistrata-inspired musical from Tony Award-nominated playwright Douglas Carter Beane and composer Lewis Flinn.

Dan Knechtges (Xanadu) will direct and choreograph the Dallas Theater Center premiere that is set to run Jan. 15-Feb. 14, 2010, at the new Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre in the AT&T Performing Arts Center.

Beane (The Little Dog Laughed, Xanadu, As Bees in Honey Drown) penned the book for the musical that has a pop score by Lewis Flinn.

Murin (Xanadu) leads the cast as Lysistrata Jones, alongside Rannells (Jersey Boys, Hairspray) and Holbrook (Xanadu, West Side Story), in a company that will also feature Katie Boren (Spelling Bee), Xavier Cano (Grease), Lindsay Nicole Chambers (Legally Blonde), Noemi Del Rio (In the Heights), Carla Duren (110 in the Shade), Justin Keyes (The Apple Tree), Telly Leung (Rent), Preston Sadleir and Liz Mikel ("Friday Night Lights") as Hetairai.

The updated take on Lysistrata brings "the classic tale of the battle of the sexes to a contemporary American college (Athens University) where Lysistrata Jones is the head cheerleader at a school where the basketball team is content to lose every game. Determined to inspire them to become winners and care for something more than themselves, the ladies decide to hold out on 'giving it up' until their team breaks the 30-year losing curse by winning a game."

"I want theatregoers to have a good time and I want them to leave with something fresh," Beane said in a statement. "Give It Up! poses the question, 'If you take away sexual attraction from a relationship, would you really fall in love with that person? Who would you fall in love with?' Ultimately it's about being who you truly are, learning to love who you truly are, and not having to pretend to be something other than that."

Give It Up! will have set design by Beowulf Boritt, costume design by David C. Woolard, lighting design by Ben Stanton, sound design by Tony Meola, musical supervision by Christopher Jahnke and music direction by Elaine Davidson.

For tickets phone (214) 522-8499 or visit DallasTheaterCenter.