The Obie Award-winning Polly Pen musical, Bed And Sofa, will open Dec. 9 at the Wilma Theatre in Philadelphia. Previews started Dec. 2, and the show runs through Jan. 10, 1999.
Based on a 1926 Abram Room silent film, Bed And Sofa revolves around the relationships of two men and a woman in Stalinist Russia. Ludmilla, the housewife, and her husband, Nikolai open their home to Volodya when a housing shortage leaves him without a place. The housing situation complicates, however, as Ludmilla takes Volodya as her lover and the three exchange sleeping arrangements on the bed and the sofa.
Written by Pen with a libretto by Laurence Klavan, Bed and Sofa premiered Off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre in January, 1996. The musical, often compared to a modern opera, won two Obie Awards, including Distinguished Music, and seven Drama Desk Award nominations.
Bed and Sofa stars Ann Crumb as Ludmilla, Jeff McCarthy as Nikolai and Ron Bohmer as Volodya. Crumb has credits in the West End (The Goodbye Girl, Nine) and on Broadway (Aspects of Love, Anna Karenina, Chess), as well as having just completed the role of Sarah in the Wilma's production of Love and Anger. McCarthy most recently appeared on Broadway as Terry Turner in Side Show and as the Beast in Beauty and the Beast (he also lent his voice to the WB's Michigan J. Frog). Bohmer has toured the country as the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera, Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard, Alex in Aspects of Love and as Enjolras in Les Miserables, a role he also performed on Broadway.
Co-artistic director of the Wilma Theatre Blanka Zizka will direct. Georgia C. Stitt will musical direct. David P. Gordon designed the set, Larisa Ratnikoff the costumes and Adam Wernick the sound. Tickets are $38-$7 with special discounts for students, seniors and theatregoers under 30. To order, call (215) 546-STAGE. The Wilma Theatre is located at Broad and Spruce Streets.
Upcoming in the Wilma Theatre 1998-99 season are The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh (Feb. 24-April 4, 1999) and Tennessee Williams' Orpheus Descending (May 12-June 20).
-- By Christine Ehren
