Bobbie will play Hal Reisman with Judy Kaye as Myrtle Meshbesher in the production, which will be directed by John Rando of Urinetown fame. Rob Fisher will be the musical director for Face the Music, which will play five performances at City Center March 29-April 1.
Bobbie and Kaye will be joined onstage by Lee Wilkof as Martin Van Meshbesher, Meredith Patterson as Kit Bauer, Jeffry Denman as Pat Mason, Eddie Korbich as Joe Malarky, Mylinda Hull as Pickles Crouse, Timothy Shew as O'Rourke, Felicia Finley as Streetwalker and Chris Hoch as Rodney St. Clair.
The creative team will also include Randy Skinner (choreographer), David Ives (concert adaptation), John Lee Beatty (scenic consultant), Toni-Leslie James (costume consultant), Clifton Taylor (lighting) and Scott Lehrer (sound).
Originally directed by George S. Kaufman, Face the Music concerns "a desperate producer in New York trying to raise the money for his latest revue, Rhinestones of ’32. For investors, he finds crooked NYC policeman who want to lose all their dirty money before their 'tin boxes' are subpoenaed. The show flops on opening night, but becomes a smash hit when 'racy' material is added and the Vice Squad tries to shut it down."
The musical features such Berlin tunes as "Let’s Have Another Cup of Coffee," "Manhattan Madness," "I Say It's Spinach (And the Hell With It)" and "Soft Lights and Sweet Music." Judy Kaye was most recently on Broadway stepping in for a vacationing Patti LuPone in Sweeney Todd. Prior to that she played the vocally challenged Florence Foster Jenkins in Souvenir, earning a Tony nomination for her work. She also created the role of Rosie in the Broadway company of Mamma Mia!, a part for which she received a 2002 Tony Award nomination. Kaye won the Tony for her performance as Carlotta in the New York production of The Phantom of the Opera and also received a Theatre World Award for her work in On the Twentieth Century. Kaye also starred on Broadway in Ragtime, and her two most recent solo recordings are titled "Diva by Diva" and "Songs from the Silver Screen."
Walter Bobbie garnered the Tony Award as Best Director for the long-running Broadway revival of Chicago. He was also Tony-nominated for Best Book of a Musical for both Footloose and A Grand Night for Singing. As an actor, his stage credits include Guys and Dolls, Assassins, Getting Married, Anything Goes, Cafe Crown, Driving Miss Daisy, I Love My Wife, A History of the American Film and the original Grease. Bobbie was also seen Off-Broadway in Polish Joke and in the Encores! production of Bye, Bye Birdie.
Tickets are available by visiting the New York City Center box office, which is located on West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues; by calling (212) 581-1212; or by logging on to www.nycitycenter.org. Tickets are priced $25, $50, $90 and $95.
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The Encores! season will conclude with Tony winner Kristin Chenoweth in Stairway to Paradise, an original revue created specially for the Encores! series. Playing May 10-14, the production, according to press notes, will be "a celebration of the very best material from a half century of Broadway revues, and will include numbers and sketches from Florenz Ziegfeld’s shows and other legendary musicals and revues of the era."
