Marc Kudisch and
Judy Kaye have signed on to headline the Reprise! Broadway's Best staged concert production of the Kander and Ebb musical
Zorba from May 2nd through 14th at the UCLA Freud Playhouse in Los Angeles.
Joining them will be Stan Chandler (as Niko) and Camille Saviola (as the Leader); Kudisch has been cast as the robust title character and Kaye will play the sexy Hortense.
David Lee will direct the show, while
Dan Mojica will offer choreography and Gerald Sternbach musical direction.
In addition, Paul Avedisian, Danny Bolero, Marc Cardiff, Suzanne Carlton, Venny
Carranza,
Sascha Childers, Robert Alan Clink, Gayle Dawn Comins, Mark
Esposito, Susannah Hall, Lesli Margherita, Chris Prinzo, Eddy Rioseco,
Michael Uribes, Lisuan Whittingham,
Vincent Zamora, and Kristine Zbornik will be featured in
Zorba.Zorba, based on the classic Nikos Kazantzakis novel
Zorba the Greek and the film that it inspired, features a book by Josephy Stein, music by
John Kander, lyrics by
Fred Ebb. The score includes "Life Is," "The Butterfly" and "Only Love."
Kudisch, who was last seen in See What I Wanna See at the Public Theater, is a Tony-nominee for his performances in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Thoroughly Modern Millie; he has also been seen on Broadway in Assassins, Bells Are Ringing, High Society, The Wild Party, Beauty and the Beast, The Scarlet Pimpernel and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Kaye, who was last seen as a tone-deaf society matron in Souvenir, won a Tony Award for her performance in The Phantom of the Opera, and has also been nominated for her work in Mamma Mia!. In addition to many Off-Broadway and regional credits, she has appeared on Broadway in Ragtime, Oh, Brother!, The Moony Shapiro Songbook, On the Twentieth Century and Grease.Chandler appeared on Broadway in the 1987 revival of Cabaret, and was among the original cast of Forever Plaid. Saviola has been seen on Broadway in Chicago and Nine.Directed by Harold Prince, Zorba opened at the Imperial Theatre on November 16th, 1968 and ran for 305 performances. Boris Aronson won a Tony Award for his scenic design, and its seven other nominations included nods for stars Herschel Bernardi, Maria Karnilova and Lorraine Serabian. Zorba was revived in 1983, and starred Anthony Quinn, Debbie Gravitte (playing "The Woman" now instead of "The Leader"), and Lila Kedrova; the latter won a Tony Award.
Visit www.reprise.org for more information.
