Actress Debra Monk told Playbill On-Line that she will appear in Thou Shalt Not, the new musical by Tony Award-winning choreographer Susan Stroman and jazz pianist and singer Harry Connick, Jr. The production is based on the novel, "Therese Raquin" by Emile Zola and is scheduled to open sometime this fall in New York City. The book is written by Tommy Thompson. Stroman will direct and choreograph.

Speaking at the 2000 Theatre Hall of Fame ceremony on Jan. 29, Monk said "Harry [Connick] is perfect for it. He has written a beautiful and wonderful score, and Tommy's book is lovely, so it's very exciting."

Monk added that, though the novel took place in the 1800's in Paris, the musical is set in the 1940's in New Orleans.

The show had a workshop at Lincoln Center Theatre on Sept. 18. LCT helped foster Stroman's last project, Contact, which went on to win the best musical Tony and is still playing at the Vivian Beaumont. Monk appeared in the workshop. Stroman and Monk worked together on Steel Pier.

First published serially in 1867 under the title "Un Mariage d'Amour," Zola's harrowing tale of passion, hatred and the ultimate destruction that can come of lust was later published in 1867 as a novel. In "Therese Raquin," a sensual wife and her lover murder the woman's husband and remarry, only to be haunted by the victim's ghost.