Artistic director Michael Wilson will complete his decade-long Williams marathon when he stages the work next spring.
Set on the southern coast of Italy, The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore centers on the "elderly Mrs. Goforth (Dukakis) [who] frantically tries to complete her memoirs before her illness overtakes her. As she recounts the details of her rich and flamboyant life, a wandering artist, Christopher Flanders, mysteriously arrives onto the terrace of her Italian villa. Does he offer one last chance for love and salvation, or is he the Angel of Death?"
Dukakis — who played in Hartford Stage's Rose in 2005 — appeared in the Broadway run of that show. She has also appeared onstage in A Mother, Mother Courage, The Rose Tattoo, The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters, The Seagull, Long Day's Journey Into Night, Iphegenia in Aulis, Othello, Miss Julie, A Streetcar Named Desire and The Night of the Iguana. She garnered her Oscar for her turn in the film "Moonstruck" and has also been seen in "Steel Magnolias," "Mr. Holland's Opus," and the "Look Who's Talking" series.
Among the works that have been part of the Williams salute are A Streetcar Named Desire, (1998-99), Camino Real (1999-2000), The Glass Menagerie (2000-2001), Letters From Tennessee: A Distant Country Called Youth (2001-2002), The Night of the Iguana (2002-2003), 8 By Tenn (2003-2004), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2004-2005), Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur (2005-2006) and Summer and Smoke (2006-2007).
In other new season news, Gregory Boyd has signed on to direct the forthcoming Hartford Stage season opener of Thornton Wilder's Our Town starring Hal Holbrook as the Stage Manager. Holbrook made his Broadway debut in Do You Know the Milky Way? and has since appeared in After the Fall, Marco Millions, Incident at Vichy, Tartuffe, The Glass Menagerie, Man of La Mancha, The Apple Tree, I Never Sang for My Father, Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? and An American Daughter. He won a 1966 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his solo show, Mark Twain Tonight!, which he also reprised on Broadway in 1977 and 2005. Holbrook has appeared in the films "All the President’s Men," "Julia," "Wall Street," "The Firm," "Men of Honor" and "The Majestic."
The only other production named by the company thus far is Jeremy Sams' adaptation of Zerline's Tale, which will star Tony Award winner and Hartford Stage veteran Elizabeth Ashley for a January-February 2008 run.
Hartford Stage currently presents Luis Alfaro's Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner (through April 1) and continues with Doug Wright's I Am My Own Wife (April 12-May 13) and Nightingale written by and starring Lynn Redgrave (May 24-Jun 24).
Hartford Stage is located at 50 Church Street in downtown Hartford, CT. Tickets for current shows are available by calling (860) 527-5151 . For more information visit www.hartfordstage.org.
