Full Cast Announced for Broadway-Bound, Patinkin Lead PARADISE FOUND

Harold Prince and Susan Stroman will direct an all-American cast including Kate Baldwin, John Cullum, Shuler Hensley, Judy Kaye and Mandy Patinkin, in the world premiere of Paradise Found at the Menier Chocolate Factory this spring. The production will run from May 19 through June 26 before transferring to Broadway.

Based on the novel The Tale of the 1002nd Night by Viennese author Joseph Roth, Paradise Found previews from 19 May with press night on 26 May. With music by Johann Strauss II, adapted and arranged by Jonathan Tunick, Paradise Found has book by Richard Nelson and lyrics by Ellen Fitzhugh. The production will run until 26 June. Set design is by Beowulf Boritt, with costumes designed by Judy Dolan, lighting by Howell Binkley and sound by Gareth Owen.

Further casting for Paradise Found will be announced shortly.

in Paradise Found, the Shah of Persia is feeling low. So to lift his spirits he's off to Vienna with his Eunuch in tow for some new adventures. He promptly falls in love with the Empress of the Empire, much to the dismay of her husband, so a resident of the local brothel - who is a double for the Empress - is substituted for a night of passion. But she's in love with a Baron, who's having an affair with the Soap Manufacturer's Wife....

Mandy Patinkin will play the Eunuch. Patinkin was last on stage in London at the Duke of York's Theatre in 2009 with his one-man show, Mandy Patinkin in Concert. He made his Broadway debut as Che in Evita, winning a Tony Award. His other Broadway credits include Sunday in the Park with George, Mandy Patinkin in Concert, The Secret Garden, The Wild Party, Hamlet and Mamaloshen. He is currently starring in the Yale Repertory Theatre's production of Compulsion. For his role in the television series Chicago Hope he won an Emmy Award. His other television credits include The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Broken Glass and Criminal Minds. His many film credits include Ragtime, Yentl, The Princess Bride, Dick Tracy, Alien Nation and The House on Carroll Street. His extensive recording credits include Follies, South Pacific, Mandy Patinkin, Oscar & Steve, Leonard Bernstein's New York and Mandy Patinkin Sings Sondheim.

Theatre Director and Producer Harold Prince directed the original productions of the musicals Cabaret, Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, The Phantom of the Opera, She Loves Me, Company, Follies, Pacific Overtures, Evita, Parade and Bounce. Before becoming a Director, Prince's productions as a Producer included The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, Fiorello! and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Among the plays he has directed are Hollywood Arms, The Visit, The Great God Brown, End of the World, Play Memory and his own play, Grandchild of Kings. His opera productions have been seen at Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, Vienna Staatsoper and the Theater Colon in Buenos Aires. He is the recipient of a record-breaking 21 Tony Awards.

Director and choreographer Susan Stroman is the winner of two Olivier Awards for her work in the National Theatre's production of Oklahoma! and the West End production of Crazy for You. Her other West End productions include Contact (which she originally co-created, directed and choreographed for Lincoln Center Theater, winning the Tony and Emmy awards) and Show Boat as well as The Producers, which won a record 12 Tony Awards including Best Direction and Best Choreography. Her other Broadway credits include Crazy for You, Show Boat, Oklahoma!, Young Frankenstein, The Frogs, The Music Man, Thou Shalt Not, Steel Pier, Big and Picnic. Stroman created Double Feature, a full-length ballet for New York City Ballet featuring the music of Irving Berlin and Walter Donaldson, as well as ballets Blossom Got Kissed for New York City Ballet's 50th Anniversary season, But Not for Me for the Martha Graham Company and Take Five...More or Less. Her choreography received an Emmy nomination for the HBO presentation Liza - Live at 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 the Columbia Pictures feature film Center Stage and she directed and choreographed The Producers: The Movie Musical. Most recently Stroman directed and choreographed the new musical The Scottsboro Boys for the Vineyard Theater. She is the recipient of the George Abbott Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Theatre.

The production will feature set design by Beowulf Boritt, costume design by Judy Dolan, lighting by Howell Binkley and sound by Gareth Owen.

Paradise Found is part of the Menier Chocolate Factory's Spring/Summer 2010 season - a season of firsts - the first major London revivals of Educating Rita, Shirley Valentine and Aspects of Love. The season will feature the work of some of the West End and Broadway's leading artists including Don Black, Charles Hart, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Trevor Nunn, Mandy Patinkin, Harold Prince, Willy Russell and Susan Stroman.

Tickets for the Educating Rita, Shirley Valentine and Paradise Found go on sale at 10am tomorrow, Friday 19 February. Booking dates for Aspects of Love will be announced shortly.

The Menier is currently represented on Broadway by Nunn's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury at the Walter Kerr Theatre. Their production of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES is set to open at the Longacre Theatre with Kelsey Grammer and Douglas Hodge in April. It is expected that the Menier's production of SWEET CHARITY will make a West End transfer, with an official announcement coming soon. For more information, visit www.menierchocolatefactory.com.