Cyndi Lauper Confirmed to Make Broadway Debut in The Threepenny Opera

By: Dec. 22, 2005
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Variety confirms that Cyndi Lauper will make her Broadway debut, replacing Edie Falco in the role of Jenny Diver. The show begins previews on March 24, 2006 for an April 20 opening. The show is currently scheduled for a limited run through June 11, 2006. Lauper will appear alongside Alan Cumming, Jim Dale, Ana Gasteyer and Nellie McKay, with additional casting expected shortly.

At a recent concert, pop star Cyndi Lauper informed the audience that she may make her Broadway debut in the Roundabout Theatre Company's upcoming revival of The Threepenny Opera.

The petite star told the audience that she had been asked to take part in the Weill-Brecht musical after some at the concert expressed their regret that an audition to play Mrs. Lovett in the current revival of Sweeney Todd had not landed her the role (Sondheim had promised it to Patti LuPone, according to Lauper). Lauper will play the role of Jenny Diver, the character who sings the bitter aria "The Pirate Jenny." Edie Falco ("The Sopranos," 'night, Mother), who was originally announced for the part, recently withdrew from the show due to a scheduling conflict.

Lauper's career as a performer has taken her from a flamboyant, rainbow-haired '80s chart-topper to a respected interpreter of pop songs and the American Songbook. Lauper's albums include She's So Unusual, Hey Now!, True Colors, Shine and an album of standards called At Last. Hit songs have included "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," "She Bop" and "I Drove All Night." Lauper won an Emmy Award for her guest appearance on "Mad About You."

Directed by Scott Elliott (the upcoming Barefoot in the Park, Hurlyburly) and featuring a translation and adaptation by Wallace Shawn (Aunt Dan and Lemon), the musical will run at Studio 54 from March 24th through June 11th. It will also feature Ana Gasteyer (Wicked in Chicago) as Mrs. Peachum, Tony Award-winner Jim Dale (Barnum) as Mr. Peachum, Tony Award-winner Alan Cumming as Macheath and Nellie McKay (the best-selling album "Get Away From Me") as Polly Peachum.

"The Threepenny Opera serves up a deliciously dark satire of 'respectable; society, with dashing thieves, saucy prostitutes, and lingering melodies. Based on Elizabeth Hauptmann's German translation of John Gay's eighteenth-century The Beggar's Opera, The Threepenny Opera thrusts the audience into the seedy underworld of Mack the Knife, a dapper criminal and his wry love affair with Polly Peachum," state production notes. Originally produced in Germany, The Threepenny Opera premiered on Broadway at the Empire Theatre on April 13, 1933 and received a historic off-Broadway production (with Weill's wife Lotte Lenya as Jenny) from 1955 to 1961. The most recent Broadway revival (starring Sting and Maureen McGovern) opened at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on November 5th, 1989.

The Threepenny Opera's design team will comprise Derek McLane (sets), Isaac Mizrahi (costumes), and Jason Lyons (lighting).

Tickets will be available in the spring of 2006 and available by calling Roundabout Ticket Services at (212) 719-1300; check online at www.roundabouttheatre.org for details.


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