Jeff Baron's comedy, Visiting Mr. Green, which has played at the Union Square Theatre since Nov. 28, 1997, was all set to close Oct. 4, to make room for the play Band In Berlin. But according to Caral Craig at the Jeffrey Richards press office (Sept. 24), Berlin has been postponed, so Mr. Green will continue its visit through Jan. 3, 1999.
Hal Linden, who took over for original, Drama Desk-nominated star Eli Wallach July 7, will stay with the show through Oct. 16. David Margulies (Angels in America, Conversations With My Father) joins the show two days later. Co-star in the two-hander Mitchell Anderson will continue with the production throughout its run. Visiting Mr. Green celebrated its 300th performance Aug. 19.
Hal Linden's roles have included Baron de Rothschild in a Broadway musical and Barney Miller on TV. Eli Wallach had been with the play since it tried out in March 1997 at Florida's Coconut Grove Playhouse and opened, Dec. 15, 1997, at the Union Square Theatre in New York.
The first full-length play by Jeff Baron, a writer for TV's "Tracy Ullman Show" and "Sisters," Visiting Mr. Green also helped net veteran actor Wallach the first annual Edith Oliver Award for "excellence Off Broadway."
Mitchell Anderson stars in TV's "Party of Five." His stage credits include Gross Indecency in L.A. and Flaubert's Latest at Off Broadway's Playwrights Horizons. The Mr. Green of the title is a surly, 80s age widower living on NY's Upper West Side. Amiable Ross Gardiner intrudes on this setting -- by nearly running Mr. Green down with his car. Sentenced, as community service, to visit Green weekly for six months, Gardiner establishes an odd friendship with the old man.
Directing the Florida production and New York productions is Lonny Price, who staged The Springhill Singing Disaster, The Rothschilds and Juno Off Broadway. Costumes for Mr. Green are by Gail Brassard, lighting by Phil Monat (who also did the honors in Florida), and set by Loren Sherman.
There will be no performances on Sept. 29 at 8 PM and Sept. 30 at 2:30 PM, owing to the Yom Kippur holiday. Instead, shows will be added Sept. 28 at 8 PM and Oct. 4 at 7 PM
