Daniel Gerroll will direct and star in a new production of Accomplice by Rupert Holmes at the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, Long Island. The murder mystery by the author of Edwin Drood had a short life on Broadway but has endured on the summer stock circuit. Performances begin July 17.
Gerroll is a familiar face to New York theatregoing audiences. During the 1999-2000 season alone, he acted in An Experiment with an Air Pump at Manhattan Theatre Club, The Messenger at the Rattlestick Theatre and What You Get and What You Expect at New York Theatre Workshop. During the season just past, however, he was absent from Manhattan stages, and seems to be concentrating on his growing directing career.
Gerroll's many other acting credits include The Importance of Being Earnest and The Shaughram, both at Irish Rep, and High Society on Broadway.
*
The Bay Street Theatre Festival kicked off their 2001 summer season on May 26, when it opens its production of Jar the Floor by Cheryl L. West. The season continued with a production of Edward Albee's Seascape, starring Josef Sommer. Alec Baldwin will star in a late addition to the 2001 summer season. From Sept. 12 to Sept. 30, he will appear in Gross Points, a new comedy by Ira Lewis. Stephen Hamilton will direct.
The play spoofs America’s idea of royalty as personified by Baldwin's character, a star of the entertainment industry. Baldwin took part in a reading of Paddy Chayefsky’s The Latent Heterosexual at Bay Street last summer. In New York, he was seen this season in a City Center Voices! reading of Arsenic and Old Lace. Broadway appearances include A Streetcar Named Desire. Among his many films are “State and Main,” “The Hunt for Red October,” and “Malice.”
*
The remaining 2001 schedule runs as follows:
• Accomplice by Rupert Holmes, beginning July 17. Daniel Gerroll directs and stars.
• Hair, the 1960s counter-culture musical by Gerome Ragni, Jame Rado, and Galt MacDermot, which will receive a concert revival courtesy of City Centers Encores! later this spring; beginning Aug. 14.
• Gross Points by Ira Lewis, starring Alec Baldwin, Sept. 12-30
*
The above roster reflects the Bay Street's new artistic mission to present revivals of classics or recent New York successes. During its initial years, the company presented premieres by the likes of Jon Robin Baitz, Lanford Wilson and Joe Pintauro. Often shows which played the Bay Street were later seen Off-Broadway, including Baitz's Three Hotels, Bob Kingdom's Elsa Edgar, and Terrence McNally, Joe Pintauro and Lanford Wilson trio of one-acts, By the Sea, by the Sea, by the Beautiful Sea.
The Broadway-bound version of Hedda Gabler, starring Kate Burton, played the Bay Street last year, as did the Janis Joplin musical, Love, Janis, now playing Off-Broadway.
—By Robert Simonson
