Molière Meets Manhattan: The Learned Ladies of Park Avenue Begins at Hartford Stage, Sept. 1 | Playbill

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News Molière Meets Manhattan: The Learned Ladies of Park Avenue Begins at Hartford Stage, Sept. 1 Annalee Jefferies, Nancy Bell and Pamela Payton-Wright are among The Learned Ladies of Park Avenue when the new David Grimm new take on a classic story begins at Hartford Stage, Sept. 1.

Hartford artistic director Michael Wilson (Enchanted April) directs the season opener set to open Sept. 9 for a run through Oct. 2 at his Connecticut company's home.

Grimm translates and freely adapts from Molière's Les Femmes savantes (The Learned Ladies) to bring the tale into 1930's Manhattan during the Jazz Age. Show materials explain "Dicky wants to marry Betty, but her mother's plan is for Betty to wed a most pompous man. Will reason, greed or true love win the day?" The new work was commissioned and developed as part of Hartford Stage's 2004 Brand:NEW Festival of New Works.

Among the ensemble with many Hartford Stage returning favorites are Tom Bloom (Henry IV - Broadway, Light Up the Sky - Hartford) as Henry, Annalee Jefferies (Bad Dates - Hartford) as Phyllis, Nancy Bell (Polish Joke - Off Broadway) as Ramona, Nicole Lowrance (Engaged, Don Juan - Off-Broadway) as Betty, Nafe Katter (Othello – The Moor of Venice - Hartford) as Uncle Rupert, Pamela Payton-Wright (Long Day's Journey Into Night - Broadway, Fifth of July - Off-Broadway) as Aunt Sylvia, Zach Shaffer (The Man Who Came to Dinner - Broadway) as Dicky Mayhew, David Greenspan (Hairspray - Broadway, Happy Days - Off-Broadway) as Upton Gabbitt, Bill Kux (The Night of the Iguana - Hartford) as T.S. Baines/Judge Arbogast and Natalie Brown (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - Hartford) as Magda.

The forthcoming 42nd anniversary mainstage season (subject to change) will continue with David Cale and Jonathan Kreisberg's new musical Floyd and Clea Under the Western Sky (Oct. 13-Nov. 13). The new year will bring the Eugene O'Neill tale A Moon for the Misbegotten (Jan. 5-Feb. 5, 2006), Lorraine Hansberry's drama A Raisin in the Sun (Feb. 16-Mar. 19, 2006), the continuing Tennessee Williams tradition with A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur (Apr. 6-May 7, 2006) and Terrence McNally's gritty drama Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (May 18-June 18, 2006).

Tickets to shows at Hartford Stage, 50 Church Street in downtown Hartford, CT are available by calling (860) 527-5151 . For more information, visit www.hartfordstage.org.

 
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