Ladies and Gentleman Added to Broadway Mambo Kings Musical Cast
By Ernio Hernandez
11 Apr 2005
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From Top: Christiane Noll, Dennis Staroselsky and Cote de Pablo
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Christiane Noll, Dennis Staroselsky and Cote de Pablo have joined the cast of the Broadway-bound Mambo Kings musical, according to a production spokesperson.
The stage version of Oscar Hijuelos' Pulitzer Prize-winning novel will debut at San Francisco's Golden Gate Theatre, May 24-June 19, before beginning previews at the Broadway Theatre July 20 and opening Aug. 18.
Noll (Jekyll & Hyde) will play Miss Mambo, Vanna Vane opposite Staroselsky (recent The Rivals at Boston's Huntington Theater Company) as Bernadito and de Pablo ("The Jury") reprises her role from the workshop as Nestor's wife Dolores.
They join the previously announced cast which includes "NYPD Blue" star Esai Morales and Mexican-born actor-singer Jamie Camil as the title brothers, "Six Feet Under" actress Justina Machado as Dolores' sister Ana Maria, Grammy Award winning Cuban music star Albita as singer Evalina Montoya and "Star Wars" veteran actor Billy Dee Williams as nightclub owner Fernando Perez. More casting is to be announced.
Based on the Hijuelos' "The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love," the musical follows the same story of two Cuban brothers who travel to New York City in 1949 with dreams of becoming recording stars. The Latin siblings — flashy, guitarist Cesar and his shy trumpet playing brother Nestor — rise to fame from the dance halls to perform as Desi Arnaz's cousins on "I Love Lucy."
The novel was adapted for the big screen into "The Mambo Kings," which starred Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas under the direction of Arne Glimcher. Glimcher now provides book (with Hijuelos) and lyrics for the musical version which features music by Carlos Franzetti — who also scored the film. Sergio Trujillo will serve as choreographer with Glimcher as director.
The design team for The Mambo Kings features Riccardo Hernandez (sets), Ann Roth (costumes) with Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer (lighting). Musical direction will be handled by Constantine Kitsopoulos.
Daryl Roth and Jordan Roth will produce The Mambo Kings which capitalized at $12 million. "I think it's really a story that is just screaming to be a musical — it has sex and passion and mambo and rhythm and dance," Jordan Roth previously told Playbill.com (Sep. 2004).
The staging will mark the first Broadway collaboration between the mother and son producing team of Daryl and Jordan Roth. Daryl Roth is currently represented on Broadway by Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Other credits include Caroline, or Change, Anna in the Tropics and The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? Jordan Roth has produced The Rocky Horror Show on Broadway as well as The Donkey Show Off-Broadway.
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