Elaine May's Taller Than a Dwarf, which began previews at Broadway's Longacre Theatre on March 24, and officially opened on April 24, will shut down on June 11, one week after the Tony Awards. The show opened to largely negative notices and will have run 37 previews and 56 regular performances.
Dwarf stars Matthew Broderick (as Howard Miller) and Parker Posey (as Selma Miller). Alan Arkin directs. Julian Schlossberg leads a production team which includes Mark S. Golub, Ted Tulchin, Jon B. Platt, Darren Bagert and Hal Luftig.
(Up until recently, Dwarf was the only new comedy due on Broadway this spring. With the closing of Squonk at the Helen Hayes Theatre, however, another comedy, Claudia Shear's Dirty Blonde, has found a place on the Great White Way. Dirty Blonde debuted Off-Broadway to rave reviews earlier this year. It opened on Broadway as the last show of the 1999-2000 season, May 1.)
The complete cast of Taller Than a Dwarf also includes Joyce Van Patten (as Mrs. Miller), Jerry Adler (Mr. Miller), Marcia Jean Kurtz (Mrs. Shawl), Cynthia Darlow, Marc John Jeffries, Dajon Matthews, Sam Groom, Greg Stuhr and Michael [sic] McShane, who recently replaced Jim Downey. Four standby performers have also been added to the roster: Josh Alexander, Valerie Geffner, Marilyn Pasekoff and Joel Rooks.
* Posey is one of the "it" girls of independent film, having appeared in dozens of low budget features, including "The House of Yes," "Waiting for Guffman," "The Daytrippers," "Henry Fool," "SubUrbia," "Basquiat" and "Party Girl." Though she possesses a theatre background, Dwarf will mark her Broadway debut.
Broderick has been seen on the stage quite a bit of late. Broderick bowed on Broadway just last season in the National Actors Theatre staging of the thriller Night Must Fall. Other credits include How to Succeed..., for which he won a Tony and a recent reading of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Dwarf represents his first stage comedy in many years.
Director Arkin is best known for his film work (Catch 22, Simon) but his theatre credits include directing The Soft Touch in Boston in 1975 and Jules Feiffer's The White House Murder Case Off Broadway in 1970, as well as the original Sunshine Boys and Little Murders. May's plays include Adaptation, Not Enough Rope and Mr. Gogol And Mr. Preen.
