Brooke Shields Set for Wonderful Town

By Andrew Gans
20 Aug 2004

Brooke Shields is headed back to Broadway
Brooke Shields is headed back to Broadway
Photo by Aubrey Reuben

Brooke Shields, whose Broadway credits include the revivals of Grease! and Cabaret, is set to return to The Great White Way in another revival, Wonderful Town.

Producers Roger Berlind and Barry and Fran Weissler announced Aug. 20 that Shields will replace two-time Tony Award winner Donna Murphy as Ruth Sherwood beginning Sept. 28. Murphy received rave reviews and a Tony nomination for her portrayal of the aspiring writer who arrives in New York with her younger sister Eileen.

In addition to Grease! and Cabaret, Brooke Shields was seen Off-Broadway in The Vagina Monologues and The Exonerated. Her film credits include “Pretty Baby,” “Endless Love,” “The Weekend,” “The Bachelor” and “King of the Gypsies.” She won an American Comedy Award for a guest appearance on “Friends,” which led to her hit series “Suddenly Susan.”

Wonderful Town plays the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, 302 West 45th Street. The company currently stars Murphy and Jennifer Westfeldt as Ruth and Eileen Sherwood. The production garnered a 2004 Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical Revival as well as a 2004 Tony Award for Best Choreography for Kathleen Marshall. Marshall also directed.