As previously reported, Carl Andress will direct all four episodes of the live soap opera, which will be performed at Comix Oct. 16, 23 and 30 and Nov. 6 at 8 PM. The starry cast will include Vanessa Aspillaga as Margarita Cartell, Dylan Baker as Craven Cartell, Keith Davis as Suitor, Joanna Gleason as Titsiana Cartell, Brian d'Arcy James as Cronin Cartell, David Rakoff as Hubris the butler and Joey Slotnick as Samson Solomon.
Playwright Beane told Playbill.com that new additions to the cast include Jason Butler Harner as Sterling, Kristen Schall as Skeeter Jo, Peter Herrman as Dank and Pedro Pascal as Emanuel. The four performances will also feature weekly guest stars. Episode titles are "The Eye of the Needle," "Far Above Rubies," "Perish the Sword" and "Cast a Stone."
Beane says that he was inspired to create The Cartells — which is written in the style of such eighties nighttime dramas as “Falcon Crest” and “Dynasty” — “while watching a re-run on Soapnet [when] Henry Kissinger himself made an appearance on ‘Dynasty.’ Suddenly U.S. foreign policy made sense to me. . . . [And] in addition to the fun yummy soap acting and writing, there is a also — a la Armistead Maupin or E.L. Doctorow — a steady parade of actual current figures and current events that make an appearance or mention here and there.”
The design team includes B.T. Whitehill (set design), Jeriana Hochberg (costume design), Kirk Bookman and Julie Seitel (lighting design) and Lewis Flinn (sound design/original music).
The Cartells, according to press notes, is about "a wealthy oil family having too much fun in an Aaron Spelling kind of way." Beane is also the author of The Little Dog Laughed, which begins previews at Broadway's Cort Theatre Oct. 26. Comix is located in Manhattan at 353 West 14th Street at Ninth Avenue. Tickets, priced at $35, are available by calling (212) 524 2500 or by visiting www.comixny.com. Dinner seating is available. VIP tickets, priced $125, can be reserved by calling (212) 633-9108, ext. 14; that price also includes pre-show cocktails and appetizers and a post-show party with the cast.
