Under the auspices of Jeffrey Finn Productions, both the Stephen Sondheim-George Furth musical Company and the Tim Rice-Benny Andersson-Bjorn Ulvaeus rock opera Chess will have full Equity tours in 1999-2000.
Sondheim's 1970 Tony Award-winning Best Musical about bachelor Bobby and his wavering desires to get married and stay single, Company will begin performances Sept. 28 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Casting and further dates will be announced soon. This Company will be the first tour to utilize the revised version of Furth's book from the Roundabout's 1995 Broadway revival.
Chess, the cult musical based around a Cold War chess match between an American and a Russian, has scheduled a two date tour that will run in Hartford, Connecticut and Wilmington, Delaware in January and February 2000. Casting for Chess begins in August.
Both tours are produced with Jeffrey Finn Productions, CT's The Bushnell and DE's The Playhouse Theatre. The three were responsible for the 1999 spring tour of The Who's Tommy, which visited Wilmington, Hartford, Stamford, CT, Boston and Chicago.
-- By Christine Ehren