Two-time Tony nominee Kevin Chamberlin (Dirty Blonde, Seussical), TV and L.A. theatre vet Lisa Picotte (replacing previously announced Lea Delaria) and The Phantom of the Opera's Hugh Panaro star as three best friends running backward through life in Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, a concert version performing Sept. 23 as a part of Los Angeles' Reprise! series. TV's Teri Hatcher is also featured in the cast as the moneyed Gussie.

Rounding out the cast are Jean Louisa Kelly as Beth, George Ball as Joe, James Black, Stella Stevens as KT and Ben Platt. Arthur Allan Seidelman directs with musical direction by Daryl Archibald.

Based on the play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, Merrily We Roll Along features a score by Stephen Sondheim and a book by George Furth. Concerning the lives of three friends — composer Franklin Shepard, lyricist Charley Kringas and writer Mary Flynn — the musical is told backwards in time and boasts such classic Sondheim tunes as "Like It Was," "Not a Day Goes By," "Good Thing Going," "Now You Know," "Our Time" and "Old Friends." The musical bowed on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre on Nov. 16, 1981, where it ran for only 16 performances.

Tickets to the Sept. 23 Merrily We Roll Along concert are $50. The 2002-2003 Reprise! season includes Anything Goes (Sept. 17-29), On the Twentieth Century (Jan. 21 Feb. 2, 2003) and Kismet (March 18-30, 2003). Tickets are available by calling (310) 825-2101. The Freud Playhouse is located within Macgowan Hall at UCLA.

—By Christine Ehren
and Andrew Gans