Carl Andress stages the New York premiere, which began previews Jan. 14. The run is slated to play through Feb. 28. Previously seen at the La Jolla Playhouse, Busch's The Third Story centers on "a mother and son screenwriting team [who] hunker down in Omaha after fleeing Commie-obsessed 1940's Hollywood," according to production notes. "A romantically-inclined but socially inept princess makes a deal with an ancient witch. And tommy guns meet test tubes as a way-too-well-dressed first lady of the mob forms a desperate alliance with a cloning scientist whose experiments have had, um, less-than-consistent results. Gangster flicks, fairy tales and B-movie sci-fi collide in this epic comic fable from the imagination of Charles Busch."

Turner (The Graduate) and Busch (Die Mommie Die!) are joined onstage by Jennifer Van Dyck (Hedda Gabler), Scott Parkinson (The Coast of Utopia), Sarah Rafferty (Gemini) and Jonathan Walker (Twentieth Century). (Van Dyck, Parkinson and Walker appeared in the La Jolla run.)

Third Story replaced Neil LaBute's The Break of Noon on the MCC schedule. The latter work, to be seen in September 2009, was moved to avoid conflicting with the upcoming Broadway transfer of LaBute's reasons to be pretty (previously seen Off-Broadway at MCC). Next up for the troupe is the musical Coraline (May 6-June 20, 2009), featuring music and lyrics by Stephin Merritt and a book by David Greenspan based on the novel by Neil Gaiman.

Tickets to Third Story at The Lucille Lortel Theatre, 121 Christopher Street, are available by calling (212) 279-4200. For more information visit mcctheater.org.