Mark Linn-Baker Star in Irwin's NY Flea Mar. 5 | Playbill

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News Mark Linn-Baker Star in Irwin's NY Flea Mar. 5 Award-winning mime and physical comedian Bill Irwin staged the Feydeau farce, A Flea In Her Ear, opening Mar. 5 at the Roundabout's Laura Pels Theatre, where he directed and appeared in Scapin last season.

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Mark Linn-Baker in Flea

Photo by Photo by Joan Marcus

Award-winning mime and physical comedian Bill Irwin staged the Feydeau farce, A Flea In Her Ear, opening Mar. 5 at the Roundabout's Laura Pels Theatre, where he directed and appeared in Scapin last season.

Flea stars Mark Linn-Baker, of TV's "Perfect Strangers," filmdom's My Favorite Year, and Broadway's Laughter on the 23rd Floor and A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum.

Also in the cast are Mark McKinney (TV's "The Kids in the Hall" and "Saturday Night Live"), Michael Countryman (Holiday and 1996's Where The Truth Lies Off-Broadway), Bruce Macvittie (Dark Rapture), Alice Playten (Hair), Shaun Powell, Saxon Palmer, Camilia Sanes, Virginia Louise Smith, Kali Rocha, James Lally, Wally Dunn, Edmond Geneset, George Hall and Angie Phillips (who left the cast of Pride's Crossing Jan. 25 to take the role of Lucie).

Designing the show are Douglas Stein (set), Bill Kellard (costumes), Nancy Schertler (lighting) and Tom Morse (sound).

Irwin's other roles include Waiting For Godot, half of Fool Moon (with David Shiner), and his solo, In Regard Of Flight. Penned in 1907, "La Puce A L'Oreille" satirizes Parisian bourgeois life. This adaptation of Flea is by Mark O'Donnell and Jean-Marie Bessett. Other Feydeau works include A Little Hotel On The Side, Cat Among The Pigeons and Any Minute Now.

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In other Roundabout news, as reported first by the New York Post, speculation is strong that the company's acclaimed revival of A View From The Bridge will move to a larger Broadway house, possibly the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, where Grease! ended Jan. 25.

Roundabout spokesperson Erin Dunn (Jan. 20) confirmed to Playbill On-Line that "Outside producers are looking at it, and there's a good chance it will move, though not a definite deal." As of Feb. 10, plans were still not set for the show's move. Bridge plays at the Roundabout's mainstage through Feb. 22 (after an extension from Feb. 1) but cannot go longer because Terrence Rattigan's Deep Blue Sea is set to begin previews Feb. 28.

Penned as a long one-act in 1955 and then expanded the following year, A View From The Bridge, began Broadway previews Nov. 25 and opened Dec. 14. The staging comes after another well-received Arthur Miller revival at the Roundabout, All My Sons; and falls concurrently with a season-long Miller restrospective at Off-Broadway's Signature Theatre.

Anthony LaPaglia (The Rose Tattoo) stars alongside Allison Janney (Beatrice), Brittany Murphy (Catherine), Gabriel Olds (Rodolpho), Christian Lincoln, Daniel Serafini-Sauli, John Speredakos, Mark Zeisler, Jeffrey Donovan (Marco) and Robert LuPone (Aach). LuPone replaced original cast member Stephen Spinella.

Janney starred opposite Frank Langella in Present Laughter and Off Broadway in Blue Window, New England and Five Women Wearing The Same Dress. LuPone appeared in Zoya's House, Late Night Comic and the original cast of A Chorus Line (as Zach). He's an executive director of Off-Broadway's Manhattan Class Company. Donovan's credits include An Inspector Calls and Off Broadway's Skyscraper.

Bridge takes a tragic look at a man afraid of losing his niece -- and the security of his own sexuality. Michael Mayer directs -- a real coup, since he also directed the recent Broadway musical Triumph Of Love. Mayer also staged Craig Lucas' Missing Persons in 1995 at NY's Atlantic Theatre Company, and he conceived and staged the WPA revue, Hundreds Of Hats.

Current shows at the Roundabout are Frank Langella's Cyrano de Bergerac at the Off-Broadway Laura Pels space through Jan. 25, and 1776, another Roundabout hit, continuing its run at the Gershwin.

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In further Roundabout news, Edward Herrmann, last seen as a psycho psychiatrist in Psychopathia Sexualis, has joined the cast of the Roundabout's upcoming revival of Terrence Rattigan's Deep Blue Sea. He plays William Collyer opposite previously announced Bythe Danner as wife, Hester.

Rattigan's 1952 drama will come to the Roundabout Feb. 28 for an opening March 26. Directed by Mark Lamos, recently resigned artistic director of Hartford (CT) Stage Company, the production is scheduled to run through May 10.

Rattigan's 1952 drama tells of a married woman who has a hopeless love affair with a caddish younger man, then has to deal with the effects on her marriage and on her self-image.

Other plays by Rattigan include French Without Tears (1936), The Winslow Boy (1946), The Sleeping Prince (1953) and Separate Tables (1954).

Film and stage actress Danner appeared on Broadway in a 1987 Blithe Spirit, opposite Geraldine Page and Judith Ivey; and a 1988 NY Shakespeare Festival Much Ado About Nothing, starring Kevin Kline.

These days, Herrmann is most visible on television commercials and miniseries, but he received a Tony for Mrs. Warren's Profession and appeared in Plenty, The Philadelphia Story and (in London) A Walk In The Woods.

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Billed as "a contemporary musical fable," a new musical featuring the hit songs of Burt Bacharach and Hal David will play at the Roundabout's mainstage June 3-Aug. 16. Gillian Lynne will direct and choreograph the show, with the working title: "What The World Needs Now") which will have a book by Kenny Solms, based on an idea by Solms and Lynne. Lynne is the director of Cats and Phantom Of The Opera.

No doubt interest in Bacharach & David's work was rekindled by the wildly acclaimed Encores! concert staging of Promises, Promises in March. Songs by the pair include "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" and "I'll Never Fall In Love Again."

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Impossible Marriage, a new play by Beth Henley (The Miss Firecracker Contest, Crimes Of The Heart) has been postponed from this summer at the Pels until next season. The play is about a woman married to a man "twice her age, balding, overweight and rumored to be a philanderer." The comedy/drama will star Holly Hunter, best known for her film-work in The Piano and Broadcast News. She also starred in Henley's The Wake Of Jamey Foster on Broadway in 1982.

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In other Roundabout season news, a planned revival of The Lion In Winter has been postponed until next season. James Goldman's drama concerns the sparring match between King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, circa 1183. Katharine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole starred in the famous 1968 film.

For tickets or information on Roundabout shows call (212) 719-1300.

 
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