More Casting Completed for Ravinia Anyone Can Whistle

By: Aug. 08, 2005
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More casting has been announced for the Ravinia Festival's concert staging of Stephen Sondheim's Anyone Can Whistle, which will star the frequent Ravinia triple act of Patti LuPone, Michael Cerveris and Audra McDonald.

The show, which will run for two performances on August 26th and 27th (at 8 PM both nights), will feature Ray Wills as Comptroller Schub, Jerry Galante as Treasurer Cooley, Peter Mohawk as Dr. Detmold, David Mendes as Chief of Police Macgruder, Christine Sherrill as June, Jason Bayle as John , Joshua Johnston as the Telegraph Boy, and Parrish Collier, Andrew J. Waters, Richard Strimer and Darius Fearrington will play the Four Boys. In addition, the show's large ensemble of Cookies, Pilgrims, Townspeople and Deputies will feature Michael Accardo, Gary Alexander, Roger Anderson, Bayle, Karla L. Beard, Max Chung, John Clonts, Stephen Colella, Lauren Creel, Devin Desantis, Berwick Haynes, Danny Heeter, Brian Herriot, Nate Johnson, Johnston, Gloria Kissel, Jacob Langfelder, Kate Loprest, Johanna Mckenzie Miller, Mohawk, Ty Perry, Jeanai Ratcliffe,Sherrill, Emily Shoolin, Jason Sperling, Lucia Spina, Genevieve Venjohnson and Lakesha Walker.

Anyone Can Whistle will be helmed by Lonny Price and with musical direction by regular Sondheim collaborator Paul Gemignani. The book (by Arthur Laurents) and Sondheim songs used in the sold-out 1995 Carnegie Hall concert of the show will be performed at Ravinia.

The musical was a 9-performance flop when it opened at the Majestic Theatre in 1964 but has since come to be regarded by many Sondheim fans as a daring, ahead-of-its-time work that tweaked conventionality and conformity. Cerveris will play Hapgood, who comes to town and tries to help the lovely Nurse Fay Apple (McDonald) defeat the cold-blooded, money-obsessed mayoress Cora Hoover Hooper (LuPone), who has taken to shutting up the sane and insane alike as "cookies" in the town asylum. The three stars have previously appeared together in most of the other Sondheim 75 shows at Ravinia; for the past 5 years, the festival has been mounting concert versions of his musicals to culminate with his 75th birthday this year. The previous Ravinia Sondheim shows were Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, Sunday in the Park with George and Passion.

The shows have done so well that Kauffman is now considering staging concert productions of Sondheim shows in upcoming years.  "We've asked Steve about extending the project, and he was willing. This series has been a wonderful success for us, adding a new flavor to the mix for the traditional Ravinia audience."

Anyone Can Whistle's score includes a number of songs that are now Sondheim standards--"With So Little To Be Sure Of," "Me and My Town," "A Parade in Town," "There Won't Be Trumpets," "I've Got You To Lean On," "Everybody Says Don't," and the wistful title song. Angela Lansbury, Lee Remick and Harry Guardino were the shows original stars, and Madeline Kahn, Bernadette Peters and Scott Bakula headlined the Carnegie Hall concert.

For more information, visit www.ravinia.org.


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