Most of the roles have been cast through "offer only," according to a Nov. 9 Equity Principal Audition notice from Actors' Equity Association. "Producers state that this is an all-principal show; no Equity Chorus Calls will be held," the casting call indicates. (Producers are required to hold EPAs to ensure that Equity's broad membership get exposed to casting directors and other creatives.)
As previously reported on Playbill.com, Aubrey Dan, Martyn Hayes and Peter W. Lamb for Dancap Productions Inc. are producing the retrospective musical with direction by Prince and co-director Susan Stroman. The show, packed with theatre songs by master composers and lyricists of the past 50 years, is aiming for an August 2012 opening at the Four Seasons Centre in Toronto prior to a fall 2012 Broadway engagement. (The casting notice indicates that rehearsals will begin in New York City in June 2012 followed by a July-September run in Toronto, with Broadway to follow.)
As previously reported, choreography is by Tony winner Stroman (The Producers), music supervisor is Tony winner Jason Robert Brown (Parade), the book is by Tony nominee David Thompson (The Scottsboro Boys).
Prince is considered legendary because of his 21 Tony Awards, his mentorship under the great director George Abbott and because he produced or directed some of the groundbreaking and long-running musicals of the past 60 years: The Pajama Game, West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, She Loves Me, Cabaret, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Parade, The Phantom of the Opera and more.
Here's how Prince of Broadway is characterized: "Celebrating the most influential and successful career in the American theatre of the past 60 years, Prince of Broadway will look at the circumstances and fortune, both good and bad, that led to Hal Prince creating some of the most enduring and beloved theater of all time, from 1954's The Pajama Game to The Phantom of the Opera, the longest-running show in Broadway history." Orchestrations will be by Don Sebesky (Come Fly Away, Kiss Me Kate). Eric Stern (Shrek the Musical, Parade) will serve as musical director.
The design team includes scenic and projection designer Jerome Sirlin (Kiss of the Spider Woman), costume designer William Ivey Long (Catch Me If You Can, The Producers, Crazy for You), lighting designer Howell Binkley (Memphis, Jersey Boys) and sound designer Peter Hylenski (The Scottsboro Boys, Rock of Ages).
At the coming Nov. 21 EPA, producers are seeking two female tracks: a "lyric soprano with strong belt" and a "great personality' in her 20s-30s, and a female who is a "great dancer, singer and comedienne" in her 20s. Auditions will be held in January 2012 for all understudies, and for any onstage roles that may become available by that time, according to the EPA notice.
