A spokesperson for the Kennedy Center confirmed that Skinner will play Agnes Gooch in the Jerry Herman musical, which begins performances at the D.C. theatre Feb. 18, 2006. Skinner joins the previously reported Christine Baranski (as Mame) and Max von Essen (as Patrick Dennis); no other casting has been announced. Eric Schaeffer will direct the Herman musical about the free-spirited Mame Dennis, her boozy friend Vera Charles and Mame's young nephew Patrick. The limited engagement will run through March 26 at the Eisenhower Theater.

Mame, based on Patrick Dennis' novel "Auntie Mame," features a score by Jerry Herman and a book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. The original Broadway production opened in May 1966 at the Winter Garden Theatre with Angela Lansbury as Mame and Bea Arthur as Vera Charles. Both Lansbury and Arthur won Tony Awards for their work. A subsequent film version cast Lucille Ball as the vivacious Mame. The classic Herman score includes such tunes as "If He Walked Into My Life," "It's Today," "Open a New Window," "Mame," "Bosom Buddies" and "We Need a Little Christmas."

Emily Skinner received a joint Tony Award nomination — with co-star Alice Ripley — for her performance in Side Show. Skinner's other Broadway credits include Jekyll & Hyde, James Joyce's The Dead, The Full Monty and Dinner at Eight. She was also part of the cast of the Disney musical On the Record, and she made her New York directorial debut this past season with the Town Hall concert The Broadway Musicals of 1955.

Tickets for the Kennedy Center's production of Mame will go on sale to the general public Nov. 7. For more information visit www.kennedy-center.org.