Robby Benson's Musical Open Heart Begins Performances March 4

By Robert Simonson
March 4, 2004

Open Heart, a new musical penned by film star Robby Benson, will begin previews Off-Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theatre on March 4 for an opening on March 17. The limited engagement will end April 25.

Benson himself will star, along with his wife Karla DeVito and Stan Brown.

The piece was given a reading by Cherry Lane earlier this year. It is described as "an irreverent, comic look at love and life seen through the eyes of a man during a one-minute trauma that changes him…forever."

Benson, who made his Broadway debut at age 12 in Zelda, has also appeared on The Great White Way in The Rothschilds and The Pirates of Penzance. Also a film actor, Benson provided the voice of the Beast for Disney's "Beauty and the Beast." Karla Devito has appeared on Broadway in The Pirates of Penzance and Big River and was the lone female in Meatloaf's "Out of This World" tour.

The Cherry Lane Theatre is located in New York City at 38 Commerce Street.