The world premiere of the Broadway-bound Roman Holiday—The Cole Porter Musical officially opened June 6 in San Francisco. Marc Bruni directs a cast led by Stephanie Styles and Drew Gehling, who take on the roles made famous by Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in the original 1953 film.
The limited engagement is playing at the Golden Gate Theatre through June 18.
Roman Holiday features a book by Paul Blake (who also co-produces alongside Mike Bosner) and Emmy winners Kathy Speer and Terry Grossman. The musical incorporates several Porter tunes—including “Night and Day” and “Easy to Love”—to tell the story of a young European princess and the American reporter who spend an unforgettable 24 hours in Italy’s capital.
Read what critics think of the new musical and flip through production photos below:
The Mercury News (Karen D'Souzsa)
San Francisco Gate (Lily Janiak)
Variety (Dennis Harvey)
Playbill will continue to update with reviews as they come in.
Rounding out the cast of Roman Holiday are Tony nominee Jarrod Spector, Sara Chase, Georgia Engel, Michael Mulheren, Brandon Block, Kevin Duda, Donna English, Rick Faugno, Alison Jantzie, Andrew Kober, Marissa McGowan, Kevin Munhall, Khori Petinaud, Wayne Pretlow, Shannon Rugani, Tommy Scrivens, and Brandon Andrus, Kerry Conte, Jody Reynard, and Paige Williams.
The creative team is made up of set designer Todd Rosenthal, costume designer Catherine Zuber, lighting designer Peter Kaczorowski, sound designer Brian Ronan, projection designer Sven Ortel, wig and hair designer David Brian Brown, and music supervisor and arranger Todd Ellison. Orchestrations are by Larry Blank, with dance arrangements by Mark Hummel and choreography by Alex Sanchez.
An earlier version of the musical premiered in 2001 at the Muny in St. Louis, and the Guthrie Theater presented a subsequent production in 2012.
Tickets to Roman Holiday are available online at shnsf.com.
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