Lawrence Joins Cast of Reprise! Flora, the Red Menace | Playbill

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News Lawrence Joins Cast of Reprise! Flora, the Red Menace Megan Lawrence, the 2006 Pajama Game Tony nominee recently seen in the Public Theater's Hair concerts, has joined the cast of the Reprise! production of Kander and Ebb's Flora, the Red Menace.
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Megan Lawrence Photo by Aubrey Reuben

As previously announced, Eden Espinosa — whose Broadway credits include the title role in Brooklyn and Elphaba in Wicked — will star in the title role of Flora with Sweeney Todd Tony nominee Manoel Felciano as Harry.

Directed by Philip Himberg with choreography by Christopher Pilafian, the limited engagement will run May 6-18 at UCLA's Freud Playhouse; opening night is May 7.

In other Reprise! Broadway's Best news, the theatre company has changed its name. Artistic director Jason Alexander and producing director Susan Dietz announced that the company will now be known as Reprise Theatre Company. The theatre company's 2008-2009 season will be announced shortly.

Flora, the Red Menace features music by John Kander and lyrics by the late Fred Ebb. George Abbott penned the book (with Robert Russell) and directed the original 1965 Broadway production, which starred Liza Minnelli, who won a Tony Award for her Broadway debut. The Vineyard Theatre presented a revised version in 1987 with a book by David Thompson; the Reprise! mounting will utilize the Thompson book.

Flora, according to press notes, "is set in 1935, the year that President Franklin Roosevelt started the New Deal to help pull the country out of the depth of the Depression. Flora, an optimistic and headstrong young woman, is looking to make her way in New York as a fashion designer when she finds herself falling for the shy Harry, a WPA artist who convinces her to join the Communist party. In this version, this story is being performed as a play within a play – with nine actors playing twenty-five parts - in the famous Federal Theatre Project, which was part of the WPA. "After landing a dream job (paying $30 a week) at Garrett and Mellick's, an important fashion company in New York, Flora finds that the demands of the Communist party become too much to handle, especially when it begins to interfere with her romance with Harry and her new job. As Flora's involvement with the party progresses, she realizes she must choose between her love for Harry and her own personal beliefs."

The UCLA Freud Playhouse is located in Macgowan Hall. Tickets for Reprise! productions are available by calling (310) 825-2101. For more information visit www.reprise.org.

 
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