Tony Nominee Olga Merediz and More to Join Kathleen Turner for The Killing of Sister George at Long Wharf

By Adam Hetrick
12 Sep 2012

Olga Merediz
Olga Merediz
Photo by Joseph Marzullo/WENN

Tony Award nominee Olga Merediz, Betsy Aidem and Clea Alsip will join Kathleen Turner in the upcoming Long Wharf Theatre revival of Frank Marcus' 1964 comedy The Killing of Sister George. The production is hoping for a 2013 Off-Broadway bow.

Playwright Jeffrey Hatcher (Tuesdays With Morrie, Never Gonna Dance) penned the new adaptation, which debuts at Long Wharf under Turner's direction, Nov. 28-Dec. 23. (Dates of an Off-Broadway production have not been announced.)

Turner (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Third Story) will play June Buckridge, with Alsip (One Slight Hitch) as her secretary Childi, Aidem (The Metal Children) as Mercy Croft and Merediz (In the Heights) as Madame Xenia.

Here's how the play is billed: "By day June Buckridge (Turner) plays Sister George tending to the sick and poor on the radio hit 'Applehurst.' By night, she chews on cigars, swills gin and lets nothing and no one stand in her way, including her long suffering 'secretary' Childie. When 'Applehurst's ratings plummet, Sister George is shuffled meekly off to the Great Beyond. June refuses to go quietly from her starring perch, however, in this bawdy and witty comedy."

The Killing of Sister George premiered in London in 1964. The 1966 Broadway production featured Beryl Reid as Buckridge. She earned a Tony Award for her performance. Reid repeated her work in the 1968 film, which includes racy content that earned the work an X rating.

For tickets visit LongWharf.org. The Long Wharf Theatre is located at 222 Sargent Drive in New Haven, CT.