Either J. Smith-Cameron can't get enough of Moliere's Tartuffe or she didn't like her part last time around. The actress, who appeared in the 1999 Central Park staging of the classic comedy, has been cast in the Roundabout Theatre Company's fall production of the same play.
In the former, Smith-Cameron play Elmire, the wife of the deluded Orgon (to be played here by Brian Bedford) and the prey of the hypocritical title zealot (Henry Goodman). This time around she'll play the bawdy and outspoken maid, Dorine.
Also in the cast are Jeffrey Carlson as Valere, Michael Emerson as Cleante, T.R. Knight as Damis, Kathryn Meisle as Elmire, Bryce Dallas Howard as Mariane and Madame Pernelle.
Joe Dowling directs.
Tartuffe will run Dec. 6 through Jan. 9, 2003. Smith-Cameron was last seen in Douglas Carter Beane's Music from a Sparkling Planet Off-Broadway. She also starred, to great acclaim and a few awards, in Beane's As Bees in Honey Drown. Other recent credits include Fuddy Meers and The Memory of Water (both at Manhattan Theatre Club). Her last Broadway role was in Night Must Fall.
Henry Goodman, is, of course, the former Max Bialystock of Broadway's The Producers. Last spring, the respected British actor was announced with much ballyhoo as the man who would step into Nathan Lane's Tony-winning shoes in The Producers. The actor took over as Max on March 19 and was due to open in the show in early May. He was terminated from the job following the Sunday, April 14 matinee performance, informed of the decision by his London agent over the phone. Since then, he has bounced back in Follies at the Royal Festival Hall. Goodman previously acted on Broadway in Art.
Bedford is an acknowledged master of Moliere. He appeared to great acclaim at the Roundabout in The Moliere Comedies in 1995. He has also acted in Broadway productions of The Misanthrope and The School for Wives. His most recent New York gig, also at the Roundabout, was in London Assurance. Bedford's varied, but largely classical resume, also includes The Knack, The Seven Descents of Myrtle, Five Finger Exercise, The School for Scandal (Tony Award), and countless credits at the Stratford Festival of Canada.
Both Goodman and Bedford are English, though Bedford has long resided in North America.
Joe Dowling will direct Tartuffe.
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