LCT's HAPPINESS Begins Previews 2/27

Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of Andre Bishop, Artistic Director, and Bernard Gersten, Executive Producer) has announced that Fred Applegate. Sebastian Arcelus, Miguel Cervantes, Hunter Foster, Joanna Gleason, Ken Page, Robert Petkoff, Jenny Powers, Phyllis Somerville and Pearl Sun will be featured in its upcoming production of the new musical HAPPINESS.

HAPPINESS, which has a book by John Weidman, music by Scott Frankel, lyrics by Michael Korie and direction and choreography by Susan Stroman, will begin performances Friday, February 27, and open Monday, March 30, at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater.

The cast of HAPPINESS will also include Ana Maria Andricain, Holly Ann Butler, PatRick Cummings, Janer Dickinson, Alan Green, Samantha Maza, James Moye, Alessa Neeck, Eric Santagata, Rob Sapp, Alexander Scheitinger, Lina Silver, Idara Victor, Matt Wall

Commissioned and developed by Lincoln Center Theater, HAPPINESS, tells the story of a disparate group of New Yorkers caught on a subway train under unusual circumstances. The production reunites director-choreographer Susan Stroman and book writer John Weidman, whose last LCT collaboration was the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Contact, and marks the LCT debuts of composer Scott Frankel and lyricist Michael Korie.

The musical will have sets by Thomas Lynch, costumes by William Ivey Long, lighting by Donald Holder, sound design by Scott Lehrer, orchestrations by Bruce Coughlin and musical direction by Eric Stern.

Susan Stroman returns to LCT where she directed and choreographed the musicals Contact (Tony Award - Best Choreography), The Frogs, and Thou Shalt Not. Her Broadway credits include The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstien, The Producers (Tony Awards for both direction and choreography), the revival of The Music Man, and, as choreographer, the most recent revival of Oklahaoma!, Show Boat (Tony Award - Best Choreography), Steel Pier, big and Crazy for You (Tony Award - Best Choreography).

John Weidman wrote the books for LCT's Tony Award-winning productions of Contact and Anything Goes (with Timothy Crouse). He also wrote the books for the musicals big, Pacific Overtures, Assassins and Road Show, presented earlier this season at the Public Theater .

Composer Scott Frankel and lyricist Michael Korie were nominated for a Tony Award for their score for the musical Grey Gardens. Their other collaborations include the musicals Doll and Meet Mister Future. Korie wrote the librettos to composer Ricky Ian Gordon's score for the opera The Grapes of Wrath and to the operas Harvey Milk, Hopper's Wife, Kabbalah and Where's Dick?, all composed by StewArt Wallace. He also co-wrote, with Amy Powers, the lyrics to the new musical Zhivago. Frankel, as a music director, conductor and pianist, has been associated with the original Broadway productions of Into the Woods, Les Misérables, Jerome Robbins' Broadway, Rags and Falsettos as well as Off-Broadway's Putting It Together starring Julie Andrews. Motion picture credits include Mike Nichols' Postcards From the Edge, where he can be seen (and heard) playing for Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine.

In addition to HAPPINESS, Lincoln Center Theater is currently presenting the ongoing run of its Tony Award-winning production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific, directed by Bartlett Sher, at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. This spring LCT will produce a new production of August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone, directed by Mr. Sher, beginning previews Thursday, March 19, and opening Thursday, April 16, on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre.

Fred Applegate starred on Broadway in The New Mel Books Musical Young Frankenstein, The Producers and The Sound of Music and has appeared nationally at the Mark Taper Forum, Guthrie Theatre and the St. Louis Rep. His many television credits include Malcolm in the Middle, Boston Common, Night Court, Newhart and Growing Pains.

Sebastian Arcelus' Broadway credits include Jersey Boys, Wicked, Good Vibrations and Rent. He was featured in the film Temptation and was the voice of Papi on Nickolodeon's Go, Diego, Go.

Miguel Cervantes appeared on Broadway in The 25th Annual Putnam Country Spelling Bee and off-Broadway in Fanny, Wish You Were Here and Johnny Johnson at the York Theater.

Hunter Foster received 2004 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for his performance as Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors and has also starred on Broadway as Leo Bloom in The Producers and Bobby Strong in Urinetown, after having originated that role in the musical's off-Broadway premiere.. His other Broadway and off-Broadway credits include Grease, Footloose, Les Miserables and King David (Broadway) and Modern Orthodox and Dust (Off-Broadway).

Joanna Gleason won a Tony Award for her performance in the original production of Into The Woods. Her other Broadway credits include Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, I Love My Wife, The Real Thing, Joe Egg, Social Security and Nick and Nora. Off-Broadway: The Normal Heart, It's Only A Play, Love Letters. TV: Eli Stone, ER, The West Wing, The Practice, Bette, Friends. Film: Sex & The City, The Wedding Planner, Boogie Nights, Mr. Holland's Opus, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Hannah and Her Sisters, Heartburn.

Ken Page Broadway: It Ain't Nothin' But The Blues, the original casts of Cats and Ain't Misbehavin', The Wiz, Guys & Dolls (Drama Desk and Theatre World Awards). London: Children of Eden, My One and Only. TV: Charmed, Welcome To New York, Touched By An Angel, The Equalizer. Film: Dreamgirls, The Nightmare Before Christmas, I'll Do Anything, Torch Song Trilogy.

Robert Petkoff appeared on Broadway in Monty Python's Spamalot, Fiddler on the Roof, and Epic Proportions and in London's West End in Sir Peter Hall's production of The Royal Family. His regional theater credits include productions at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, the Hartford Stage and the Mark Taper Forum. His television credits include The Chapelle Show, Law & Order and Quantum Leap.

Jenny Powers has been seen on Broadway as Rizzo in the latest production of Grease and Little Women, in the Encores productions of Follies and Of Thee I Sing and regionally in The Glorious Ones (Pittsburgh Public Theatre), Bounce (Goodman Theatre) and as Petra in A Little Night Music (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre). Her TV and film credits include Law & Order: CI, Six Degrees, Confessions of A Shopoholic and I Think I Love My Wife.

Phyllis Somerville's numerous theater credits include the Broadway productions of Over Here and Once In A Lifetime, the national tour of Night Mother and the off-Broadway productions of The Spitfire Grill, The Sum of Us and The Night Hank Williams Died. Her many film and TV roles include the current The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Little Children, Life On Mars, Third Watch, The Sopranos, NYPD Blue and all three Law & Orders.

Pearl Sun appeared on Broadway in Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas and off-Broadway in The Seven at New York Theatre Workshop. Her regional theater credits include roles in Hello, Dolly!, Hair, Once On This Island and M. Butterfly.

Photo by Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.