Musical Vanities Will Play Broadway's Lyceum, Starting Feb. 2, 2009

By Kenneth Jones
November 11, 2008

Vanities, A New Musical by Jack Heifner, with music and lyrics by David Kirshenbaum, directed by two-time Tony Award winner Judith Ivey, will play Broadway's Lyceum Theatre starting Feb. 2, 2009, toward a Feb. 26 opening, the producers announced on Nov. 11.

The musical version of Heifner's wildly popular '70s play about Texas cheerleaders who come of age between the 1960s and 1980s will star Lauren Kennedy (Spamalot, Side Show) as Mary, Sarah Stiles (Avenue Q, …Spelling Bee) as Joanne and Anneliese van der Pol (Beauty and the Beast, TV's "That's So Raven") as Kathy.

Musical staging is by Dan Knechtges (…Spelling Bee, Xanadu, 110 in the Shade).

Here's how the three-actress show is billed: "Vanities, a New Musical, spans the turbulent '60's through the late '80s and explores how important friends are as one faces life's defining moments: growing up, getting older and getting over it. Vanities is a funny and poignant look at women who discover that, even in 30 years of rapidly changing times, the one thing they can rely on is each other."

Vanities, A New Musical was originally produced at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, CA, in the summer of 2006. The critically acclaimed production was awarded two Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Musical Production and Best Original Score, and was also showcased at the 2006 National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) Festival of New Musicals. The musical was recently produced by Pasadena Playhouse (Pasadena, CA) Aug. 22-Sept. 28, 2008, with the Broadway cast trio.

Composer-lyricist Kirshenbaum is known for the Off-Broadway musicals Summer of '42 and Party Come Here.

The creative team includes set designer Anna Louizos (In the Heights, Irving Berlin's White Christmas), costume designer Joe Aulisi, lighting designer Paul Miller (Legally Blonde), sound designer Tony Meola (Wicked), music director Carmel Dean (…Spelling Bee) and orchestrator Lynne Shankel (Cry-Baby).

Vanities is produced on Broadway by Junkyard Dog Productions and Bartner/Jenkins Entertainment, in association with Demos Bizar Entertainment.

For more information visit the show's website at www.VanitiesTheMusical.com.