Artistic director James Bundy stages the comedy at the company's University Theatre. Opening night is slated for Dec. 2.

Set in Paris of 1897 at the Theatre de la Renaissance, The Ladies of the Camellias finds divas Sarah Bernhardt and Eleanora Duse sharing the spotlight. The backstage romp finds an ingenue plotting her future, a leading men chewing the scenery, hungry cheetahs roaring and a playwright who at last hears a line a dialogue spoken the way he wrote it.

The cast features Judith-Marie Bergan (The Magic Fire - Kennedy Center) as Sarah Bernhardt and Felicity Jones (Metamorphoses) as Eleonora Duse with Tom Beckett (Bobbi Boland, Epic Proportions), Mikelle Johnson, Dan Kremer, Dean Nolen (Mamma Mia!, Omnium Gatherum), John G. Preston, Triney Sandoval and Marcelo Tubert (original cast at West End Playhouse).

The design team for The Ladies of the Camellias includes Michael Yeargan (scenic), Jess Goldstein (costumes), Stephen Strawbridge (lighting) and David Budries (sound). Michael Walkup serves the dramaturg, Rick Sordelet handles fight choreography and Sarah Bierenbaum is the stage manager.

The season at Yale Rep continues with William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors (Feb. 11-March 12, 2005), August Strindberg's Miss Julie (March 18 April 9, 2005) and August Wilson's Radio Golf (April 22-May 15). Tickets for The Ladies of the Camellias at Yale Rep's University Theatre, 222 York Street in New Haven, CT, are available by calling (203) 432-1234. For more information, visit www.yalerep.org.