“A whiz-bang, retro, good time Broadway musical!”
–Chicago Tribune
“Musical Theatre Gold”
-TIME Magazine
“THE BEST SHOW IN TOWN!”
- NPR
“Musical Theatre Bliss!”
–Associated Press
“Thank God for BULLETS OVER BROADWAY”
–New York Post
Tour to launch at Playhouse Square October 6. Tickets on sale Friday
The national tour of the new musical comedy BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, written by Woody Allen and based on the screenplay by Allen and Douglas McGrath (Beautiful) for the 1994 film, has announced its complete cast for the production.
The tour will launch at Playhouse Square, kicking off the 2015-16 KeyBank Broadway Series with a two-week run, October 6-18, 2015. Tickets go on sale to the public August 7.
BULLETS OVER BROADWAY features Michael Williams as “David Shayne,” Emma Stratton as “Helen Sinclair,” Jeffrey Brooks as “Cheech,” Bradley Allan Zarr as “Warner Purcell,” Michael Corvino as “Nick Valenti,” Hannah Deflumeri as “Ellen,” Rick Grossman as “Julian Marx,” Jemma Jane as “Olive Neal” and Rachel Bahler as “Eden Brent.”
BULLETS OVER BROADWAY will also feature Blaire Baker, Mary Callahan, Jake Corcoran, Cleveland native Elizabeth Dugas, Carissa Fiorillo, Patrick Graver, Andrew Hendrick, Lainee Hunter, Justin Jutras, Brian Thomas Martin, Conor McGiffin, Andrew Metzgar, Corinne Munsch, Kaylee Olson, Joey Ortolani, Kelly Peterson, Lexie Plath, and Ian Saunders.
Following its run here in Cleveland, BULLETS OVER BROADWAY will travel to over 40 cities in its first season including Los Angeles, CA (Pantages Theatre); Philadelphia, PA (Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts); Seattle, WA (The Paramount Theatre); Nashville, TN (Tennessee Performing Arts Center); St. Paul, MN (The Ordway); Memphis, TN (The Orpheum Theatre); Providence, RI (Providence Performing Arts Center); West Palm Beach, FL (Kravis Center); Dayton, OH (Schuster Center); Dallas, TX (Music Hall at Fair Park); Houston, TX (The Hobby Center) with additional cities to be announced soon. For a complete list of tour engagements, please visit BulletsOverBroadway.com.
The tour is helmed by director Jeff Whiting, who worked on the Broadway production of BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, which was originally directed and choreographed by five-time Tony Award® winner Susan Stroman. Clare Cooke will recreate Stroman’s dynamic, Tony nominated choreography.
The creative team also includes Jason Ardizzone-West (scenic design), six-time Tony Award® winner William Ivey Long’s original Broadway costumes, Carolyn Wong (tour lighting design and adaption, based on the original Broadway lighting design by Donald Holder), Shannon Slaton (sound design) and Bernie Ardia (wig and hair design). BULLETS OVER BROADWAY features existing music of the period, including “Tain’t Nobody’s Biz-ness If I Do,” “Let’s Misbehave,” I’m Sitting On Top Of The World” and “Runnin’ Wild.”
A playwright who needs someone to back his next show. A mobster who needs some way to please his showgirl girlfriend. This could be the start of a beautiful friendship - or a brand new musical comedy! Loaded with big laughs, colorful characters and the songs that made the 20s roar, BULLETS OVER BROADWAY brings musical comedy back with a bang.
Hailed by Time Magazine as, “Musical Theatre Gold!” and described as “A Fun Machine from Start to Finish!” by The New Yorker, BULLETS OVER BROADWAY tells the story of an aspiring young playwright newly arrived on Broadway in 1920’s New York who is forced to cast a mobster's talentless girlfriend in his latest drama in order to get it produced.
The original production of BULLETS OVER BROADWAY premiered on Broadway last season at the St. James Theatre with performances beginning on March 11, 2014 and an official opening on April 10, 2014. The production received six Tony-Award® nominations, including Best Book of a Musical and Best Choreography.
BULLETS OVER BROADWAY kicks off the 2015-2016 KeyBank Broadway Series at Playhouse Square with a limited two-week run, October 6 – 18, 2015. Performances are Tuesdays through Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Sundays at 1:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Tickets go on sale to the public Friday, August 7, and will be available at the Playhouse Square ticket office (1519 Euclid Avenue in downtown Cleveland), by calling 216-241-6000 or online at playhousesquare.org Orders for groups of fifteen (15) or more may be placed by calling 216-640-8600.
To enrich the experience of the theatergoers, PlayhouseSquare presents free Broadway Buzz events to complement KeyBank Broadway Series shows.
Broadway Buzz Pre-Show Talks, providing behind-the-scenes insight, are held in the Idea Center at PlayhouseSquare one hour prior to each performance of BULLETS OVER BROADWAY.
On Thursday evenings, guests are invited to stay in the theater for a post-show chat with members of the cast. Broadway Buzz events also are available on demand at playhousesquare.org and wclv.org or by subscribing to our podcast, and are made possible by the generous donors and sponsors that support PlayhouseSquare’s not-for-profit mission.
For more information on the show, please visit bulletsoverbroadway.com.
Or Follow us at:
Pre-Production Photos available at: Click Here
Pre-production Video available at: Click Here
PlayhouseSquare is a world-class, not-for-profit performing arts center, arts education champion and downtown developer.
WOODY ALLEN (Book) has written and directed in the theater on a number of occasions, his projects include: Death Defying Acts and Writer's Block amongst others.
SUSAN STROMAN (Original Director/Choreographer). A five-time Tony Award® winning director and choreographer, her work in the Broadway production of Bullets Over Broadway was recognized with a Tony Award® nomination for Best Choreography. She has been honored with Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel, and a record five Astaire Awards. In 2014 she made her Metropolitan Opera debut, directing and choreographing The Merry Widow, starring Renée Fleming. Most recently she directed and choreographed the new musical Little Dancer for the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She directed and choreographed The Producers, winner of a record-making 12 Tony Awards® including Best Direction and Best Choreography. Her Tony Award® nominated direction and choreography for the critically acclaimed musical The Scottsboro Boys continues to garner praise, with her recent productions at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, the Ahmanson Theatre, and for the Young Vic in London’s West End, where it was honored with the Evening Standard Award for Best Musical. She co-created, directed and choreographed the Tony Award® winning musical Contact for Lincoln Center Theater, which was honored with a 2003 Emmy Award® for “Live at Lincoln Center”. Other Broadway credits include Big Fish, Crazy for You, Show Boat, Oklahoma!, Young Frankenstein, The Frogs, The Music Man, Thou Shalt Not, Steel Pier, Big, Picnic. Off-Broadway credits include Happiness for Lincoln Center Theater, Flora the Red Menace, And the World Goes ‘Round and The Last Two People On Earth: An Apocalyptic Vaudeville starring Mandy Patinkin and Taylor Mac. For ten years she choreographed Madison Square Garden’s annual spectacular A Christmas Carol. At New York City Opera she choreographed A Little Night Music, 110 in the Shade, and Don Giovanni. For New York City Ballet, she created Double Feature and For the Love of Duke. Her other ballet credits include But Not For Me for the Martha Graham Company and Take Five…More or Less for Pacific Northwest Ballet. Her choreography received an Emmy Award® nomination for the HBO presentation “Liza – Live from Radio City Music Hall,” starring Liza Minnelli. Other TV credits include co-conceiver/choreographer for PBS’s “Sondheim – a Celebration at Carnegie Hall,” “An Evening with the Boston Pops – A Tribute to Leonard Bernstein” and the “2009 Kennedy Center Honors.” She received the American Choreography Award for her work in Columbia Pictures feature film Center Stage. She directed and choreographed The Producers: The Movie Musical, nominated for 4 Golden Globes®. She is the recipient of the George Abbott Award for Lifetime Achievement in the American Theater and a 2014 Inductee into the Theater Hall of Fame.
JEFF WHITING (Director). BROADWAY: Bullets Over Broadway (Associate Director), The Scottsboro Boys (Associate Director), Hair (Associate Director), Wicked (Fifth Anniversary), Young Frankenstein (Assistant Choreographer), Big Fish (Associate Director). NATIONAL TOURS: Young Frankenstein (Director), Hairspray (Associate Director), The Producers (Associate Director). CONCERTS: James Taylor Live (Director Carnegie Hall). INTERNATIONAL: Hairspray (Brazilian Production), Jersey Boys (West End), Mickey Mouse Club (India), Disney’s Magical Moments (Brazil). REGIONAL: The Scottsboro Boys (The Old Globe/ The Ahmanson/ ACT/ Philadelphia Theatre), Little Dancer (Kennedy Center), Thrill Me: Leopold and Loeb. Jeff is the Artistic Director of The Open Jar Institute, dedicated to theatre training. He is also the creator of Stage Write, the revolutionary app for directors and choreographers which has been dubbed by SDC as the 'new standard method for documentation of staging and choreography'.
CLARE COOK (Choreographer). Past projects include Bullets Over Broadway (SDC Observer to Susan Stroman), Mother Jones (NYMF), FIREBIRD (Acadiana Symphony), Show Me Real (NYMF), Touching Loss (Triskelion Arts), Under My Skin (DANCENOW Festival at Joe’s Pub), Jack Perry is Alive and Dating (NYMF), Rusalka and Onegin (Opera Slavica), Cheer Wars and POP! (both with NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program). Teaching work includes adjunct faculty positions at NYU Tisch Dance and Louisiana State University, Movement Specialist with the Metropolitan Opera Guild, and a teaching artist at Dancewave Brooklyn. Clare is the Artistic Director of Clare Cook Dance Theater through which she creates original dance theater works. MFA in Dance from NYU. www.claremcook.com
JASON ARDIZZONE-WEST (Scenic Designer) is a New York based set designer, working on Broadway (associate for Bullets Over Broadway, assistant for If/Then, Doctor Zhivago, among others), Off Broadway (The Orion Experience), and most recently with Juilliard (Rabbit Hole, As You Like It, Richard III, among others). Jason designs events with The Herson Group (Cornell University's Charter Day Weekend, Princeton University Campaign Kick-Off, among others), teaches set design at NYU (Tisch Drama Department), and is a member of USA 829. As an architect, Jason worked with Mitchell Kurtz Architect PC to design theater and cultural arts spaces (Playwrights Horizons, Chautauaqua's Bratton Theater, among others). www.ardizzonewest.com
WILLIAM IVEY LONG (Costume Designer). Current Broadway: On the Twentieth Century and Chicago, now in its 19th year! Other Broadway Credits include: Bullets over Broadway, Cabaret, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway, Pal Joey, Grey Gardens; The Producers, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Boy from Oz, Hairspray, Contact, The Music Man, Crazy for You, Guys and Dolls, A Christmas Carol, Six Degrees of Separation, Lend Me a Tenor, Nine. Recent Off-Broadway productions include Bunty Berman Presents; Lucky Guy and The School for Lies. He most recently designed the world premiere of Little Dancer at the Kennedy Center, and made his Metropolitan Opera debut with his designs for The Merry Widow. Mr. Long has been nominated for 14 Tony Awards, winning 6 times. He was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2005, and elected Chairman of The American Theatre Wing in June, 2012. www.williamiveylong.com
DONALD HOLDER (Original Lighting Design). Broadway: Over 40 productions, including The Lion King and South Pacific (Tony Awards), The King and I, On The Twentieth Century, You Can’t Take It With You, Spiderman Turn Off The Dark, Bullets Over Broadway , The Bridges Of Madison County, Golden Boy, Big Fish, Come Fly Away, Ragtime, Movin’ Out, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and The Boy From Oz. Off Broadway: Over 100 productions, including the premieres of Heisenberg, Blood and Gifts, Happiness, A Man of No Importance, Jitney, Sight Unseen, Observe The Sons of Ulster…., The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, The American Plan, Spunk, and Three Days of Rain . Resident Theatre: Center Stage, Arena Stage, Goodman, Steppenwolf, Mark Taper Forum, Seattle Repertory, La Jolla Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse, Huntington Theatre Company, South Coast Repertory, Williamstown Theatre Festival, many others. Television: Smash – Seasons One and Two (NBC- Dreamworks).
CAROLYN WONG (Tour Lighting Designer and Adaption). Recent New York work includes She Dreams in Code and Lichtung (BAC, Liz Gerring), Written on Water (The Joyce, Pontus Lidberg Dance), When Everything Was Possible (NY City Center; Larry Moss, Dir.) History includes touring with Shen Wei Dance Arts, the Parsons Dance Company, Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company, LeeSaar/The Company, and the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular. Her work can be seen in the repertories of TU Dance, Liz Gerring Dance, Sally Silvers & Co, Nai-Ni Chen Dance, Nejla Yatkin, Daniel Gwirtzman, Juliana F. May, and Roxane Butterfly. Recent Broadway work includes assisting on the Broadway productions of On the Twentieth Century, You Can’t Take It With You, Bullets Over Broadway, The Glass Menagerie and Annie. She is an alumna of Oberlin College, and a native of San Francisco.
SHANNON SLATON (Sound Designer) has designed many national tours including: Shrek, Hairspray, The Producers, Kiss Me Kate, Noise/Funk, The Full Monty, Contact, A Chorus Line, Tap Dogs, Sweeney Todd, The Wizard of Oz, The Drowsy Chaperone, The Wedding Singer, and Elf. He was also the Production Sound on Wicked and the Production Sound for The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway and the US National tour. Additional shows he has mixed on Broadway include: Man of La Mancha, Bombay Dreams, Sweet Charity, Jersey Boys, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Drowsy Chaperone, Spring Awakening, Fela!, Anything Goes, Annie, Legally Blonde, and Cabaret.
BERNIE ARDIA (Wig & Hair Designer) has enjoyed a 30-year career, starting in television. Mr. Ardia has designed over 75 productions including the current NETworks tour Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story On Stage. This production of NETworks new tour of Bullets Over Broadway is another exciting adventure. Other credits : Ragtime, The Kennedy Center; Elf The Musical; Cameron Mackintosh's Les Miserables; Kiss of the Spider Woman with Chita Rivera; Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express in Las Vegas; and Cinderella with Eartha Kitt. Mr. Ardia is proud to have worked with many talented performers in his career including Jeanne Cooper, Ramin Karimloo, Anita Gillette, Mary Louise Wilson, Lynda Carter, Makenzie Philips and even Judge Judy! He is also the author of Barbra Streisand in New York City.