Mercedes Ruehl Returning to Broadway
Just received this press release:
MERCEDES RUEHL & LILY RABE
TO APPEAR IN THE MANHATTAN THEATRE CLUB
BROADWAY PREMIERE OF RICHARD GREENBERG’S
THE AMERICAN PLAN
PREVIEWS TO BEGIN FRIDAY, JANUARY 2
OPENING NIGHT IS THURSDAY, JANUARY 22
AT MTC’S SAMUEL J. FRIEDMAN THEATRE
Manhattan Theatre Club (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grove, Executive Producer) is pleased to announce that Academy Awardâ and Tony Awardâ winner Mercedes Ruehl and Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominee Lily Rabe will appear in the upcoming Broadway premiere of THE AMERICAN PLAN by Tony Awardâ-winning playwright Richard Greenberg (Take Me Out).
The limited engagement, to be directed by Tonyâ nominee David Grindley (Journey’s End), will begin previews at MTC’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street) on Friday, January 2 for a Thursday, January 22 opening.
THE AMERICAN PLAN will mark Mercedes Ruehl’s first appearance on Broadway since her acclaimed performance in 2002’s The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? for which she received a Tonyâ nomination. She was most recently seen Off-Broadway in the critically lauded production of Edward Albee’s The Occupant. In 1991, Ruehl received an Oscarâ and a Golden Globe Awardâ for her work in Terry Gilliam’s The Fisher King. That same year, she received a Tonyâ and a Drama Desk Award for her work as ‘Bella’ in Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers.
Lily Rabe returns to Broadway in THE AMERICAN PLAN following her acclaimed turn last season in Heartbreak House for which she received an Outer Critics Circle nomination. She made her Broadway debut in 2005 as ‘Annelle’ in the revival of Steel Magnolias receiving a Drama Desk Award nomination.
It is the Catskill Mountains in the early 1960s, and Lily Adler (Rabe) and her mother Eva (Ruehl) are spending the summer across the lake from a bustling hotel where comics entertain and buffets overflow. When a handsome young stranger enters their world, the emotionally fragile Lily finds herself falling in love. But once her imperious mother learns of their relationship, lies are exposed, alliances are forged and Lily's one chance to escape her mother's control may be lost forever.
Additional casting for THE AMERICAN PLAN will be announced in the coming weeks.
The creative team for THE AMERICAN PLAN will include: Jonathan Fensom (Scenic & Costume Design), Mark McCullough (Lighting Design), and Darron L West and Bray Poor (Sound Design).
Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, MTC has become one of the country’s most prominent and prestigious theatre companies. MTC productions have earned a total of 16 Tony Awards and five Pulitzer Prizes, an accomplishment unparalleled by a New York theatrical institution. Renowned MTC productions include Top Girls; From Up Here; Come Back, Little Sheba; The Receptionist; LoveMusik; Blackbird; Translations; Shining City; Rabbit Hole; Doubt; Proof; Kimberly Akimbo; The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife; Love! Valour! Compassion!; Sylvia; Four Dogs and a Bone; Putting It Together; Lips Together, Teeth Apart; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; Crimes of the Heart; and Ain’t Misbehavin’.
This season, MTC’s Broadway stage was renamed the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street). The landmarked theatre has been the institution’s home on Broadway since 2003 and was rehabilitated by MTC following a two-year, $35 million capital campaign. In addition, MTC operates two theatres at New York City Center (131 West 55th Street), its Off-Broadway home since 1984.
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