Playbill News: Jeff Daniels and Rachel York to Sing Tommy's Tune in Turn of the Century at Goodman

Jeff Daniels and Rachel York to Sing Tommy's Tune in Turn of the Century at Goodman

By Kenneth Jones
June 23, 2008

Rachel York and Jeff Daniels will headline Goodman Theatre's world premiere production of the new musical, Turn of the Century, directed by Tony Award winner Tommy Tune this fall.

The show's time-travel-spiked original script is by Jersey Boys' Tony-nominated librettists Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. Performances play the Goodman's Albert Theatre in Chicago Sept. 19-Oct. 26.

Nine-time Tony Award-winner and National Medal of the Arts recipient Tune (Nine, Grand Hotel, A Day in Hollywood…, The Will Rogers Follies) stages the "romantic comedy and trip through time and the American songbook." Expect a cast of more than 20; complete casting will be announced later.

Stage and screen star Jeff Daniels ("Terms of Endearment," "The Squid and the Whale") makes his Goodman debut starring as Billy Clark, "a piano player who knows the songs and loves the ladies." Acclaimed Broadway veteran Rachel York (City of Angels, Victor/Victoria) stars as Dixie Wilson, "a singer who can't catch a break — with a gig or a guy."

According to Goodman, "the friction between them is immediate; so is the chemistry. At the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve 1999, the impossible happens — and together, Billy and Dixie steal the songs that make the whole world sing, becoming the superstars they've always dreamed of, at the turn of the century."

In addition to the York and Daniels casting announcement, Goodman artistic director Robert Falls announced the following details about the 2008-09 season:

Anna D. Shapiro, recipient of the 2008 Tony Award for Best Director for a Play (August: Osage County), will make her Goodman directing debut with the world premiere of Regina Taylor's Magnolia (March 14 – April 19, 2009).

Newly added to — and completing — the 2008-09 season in the Albert Theatre is José Rivera's Boleros for the Disenchanted, directed by Goodman resident artistic associate Henry Godinez in the Albert Theatre (June 20–July 26, 2009). In it, Flora's fiancé, Manuelo, believes "a man must sin….but she will have none of it. Nor is she interested in her mother's idea that a witch's spell can make him faithful, or her father's proposal to have Manuelo killed. Enter the handsome Eusebio, who sweeps Flora off her feet. Together, the lovers leave Puerto Rico and embark on a journey of sacrifice and enduring love."

Two newly announced additions to Goodman's exploration of the works of Eugene O'Neill will be co-productions with two celebrated off-Loop Chicago theatre companies — The Hypocrites and The Neo-Futurists. Between January and March 2009, The Hypocrites will perform The Hairy Ape, while The Neo-Futurists will produce the sprawling Pulitzer Prize-winning Strange Interlude in its full length. These two companies join the line-up Falls has curated which includes New York's Wooster Group, Amsterdam's Toneelgroep, and Brazil's Companhia Triptal "in a celebration of O'Neill's work as it is being produced around the world today."

For more information about the complete Goodman Theatre season, visit www.GoodmanTheatre.org.