Prelude to a Kiss Announces Full Broadway Cast

Prelude to a Kiss will begin previews on Friday, February 16th, 2007 and open officially on Thursday, March 8th, 2007. This is a limited engagement through April 22nd, 2007.

The cast will also include Francois Battiste (Tom), Brandon Dirden (Ensemble), MacIntyre Dixon (Minister), Marceline Hugot (Aunt Dorothy, Leah), Matthew Rauch (Taylor), John Rothman (Uncle Fred), Karen Walsh (Ensemble).

In Prelude to a Kiss, Peter and Rita follow their whirlwind courtship with a storybook wedding. After a mysterious elderly man appears and kisses the bride at the wedding, the two lovers are sent on a magical journey that they will never forget. As they struggle to come to terms with their relationship and Rita's nagging doubts, their love is put to the test by unknown forces.

The design team for Prelude to a Kiss includes Santo Loquasto (sets), Jane Greenwood (costumes), Donald Holder (lights) and John Gromada (sound and original compositions).

Prelude to a Kiss received its world premiere Off-Broadway at the Circle Repertory Theatre in February, 1990 starring Mary-Louise Parker and Alec Baldwin. The production transferred to Broadway on May 1, 1990 starring Mary-Louise Parker and Timothy Hutton receiving a Tony® nomination for Best Play and becoming a Pulitzer Prize finalist. In 1992, Craig Lucas adapted his play for the feature film starring Meg Ryan and Alec Baldwin.

TICKET INFORMATION:

Tickets are on-sale now by calling Roundabout Ticket Services at (212)719-1300, online at www.roundabouttheatre.org or at the American Airlines box office (227 West 42nd St.). Prelude to a Kiss will play Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8:00PM with a Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinee at 2:00PM. Early Curtain series: Prelude to a Kiss will play 7PM curtains on Tuesday, March 13th – Friday, March 23rd. Ticket prices range from $51.25-$86.25.

Biographies:

John Mahoney (Old Man). John made his Broadway debut in The House of Blue Leaves (Tony Award, Clarence Derwent Award). Other recent theatre credits include David Mamet's play Romance at the Almeida Theatre in London, The Drawer Boy at Steppenwolf, Dublin, and Galway, Ireland as well as the Geffen Theatre's production of The Weir in Los Angeles. Prior to that he appeared in Long Days Journey into Night at the Irish Repertory Company in Chicago and Galway. Other Steppenwolf credits include The Man Who Came to Dinner (also in London), No Man's Land, Wrong Turn at Lungfish, Orphans (also New York – Theatre World Award), The Collection, Supple in Combat, Arms and the Man, And Death and the Maiden. For Steppenwolf he directed Talking Heads. Other Chicago productions include Uncle Vanya (Goodman Theatre), After the Fall (National Jewish Theatre) and The Price (Northlight Theatre). On screen John has appeared in many films including Say Anything, Moonstruck, Tin Men, Betrayed, In the Line of Fire, The American President, Primal Fear, Reality Bites, She's the One and Broken Hearts Club. He voiced major roles in the animated films Antz, The Iron Giant, and Atlantis. John played the role of Martin Crane for eleven years on NBC's "Frasier" and has twice been nominated for Golden Globe and Emmy Awards.

Annie Parisse (Rita). Theater: The Internationalist (Vineyard Theater), Coastal Disturbances (Berkshire Theater Festival), Monster (Classic Stage Company), The Credeaux Canvas (Playwright's Horizsons), The Crackwalker (Soho Rep/Walkerspace), The Wild Duck (NY Performance Works), Missalliance (Roundabout Theater Company). Film: Definitely/Maybe (upcoming), Blackbird (upcoming), Prime, Monster-In-Law, National Treasure, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Television: "Law & Order", "Friends", "Third Watch", "Big Apple", "As the World Turns" (Emmy Nomination).

Alan Tudyk (Peter). Alan Tudyk is excited to be returning to Broadway. He was last seen starring in Monty Python's Spamalot in 2005 and in Epic Proportions, directed by Jerry Zacks, before that. Off-Broadway credits include: Wonder of the World with Sara Jessica Parker, Most Fabulous Story Ever Told by Paul Rudnik, Oedipus at CSC, Misalliance at Roundabout, and Bunny Bunny by Alan Zwiebel (for which he received both the Clarence Derwent and Drama League awards). Alan can most recently be seen on screen in the cult hit Serenity, directed by Joss Whedon. Alan also appeared opposite Will Smith as Sonny in I, Robot and as Steve the Pirate in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. Alan recently completed the new James Mangold film 3:10 to Yuma opposite Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, Death at a Funeral directed by Frank Oz, and Knocked Up directed by Judd Apatow. Other movies Alan has appeared in include: A Knight's Tale, 28 Days, Wonder Boys, Hearts in Atlantis, and Patch Adams. Alan would like to list his television credits but is currently referring to himself in the third person and is tired of writing about himself.

Robin Bartlett (Mrs. Boyle). Broadway: Yentl, Sholem Aleichem. Off-Broadway: Agamemnon, Found a Peanut, Fen (NYSF); A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Dybbuk, Life and Limb (Playwrights Horizons); Frankie and Annie, The Philanthropist (MTC); Isn't It Romantic (Lucille Lortel); The Seagull, Cave Life, Reckless (Drama Desk nomination), The Early Girl (Obie Award, Drama Desk nomination) at Circle Rep. Regional: Richard III (Kennedy Center), Loose Ends (Arena), Nebraska, Slavs (La Jolla), The Old Neighborhood (Geffen). Film: Heaven's Gate, Postcards from the Edge, Regarding Henry, Lean on Me, Moonstruck, Baby Boom, Alice, Crimes and Misdemeanors, If Looks Could Kill, Honey We Shrunk Ourselves, Deceived, Dangerous Minds, City of Angels. TV: "Nip/Tuck", "NYPD Blue", "Judging Amy", "Mad About You", "West Wing".

James Rebhorn (Dr. Boyle). Broadway: Twelve Angry Men, Dinner at Eight, The Man Who Had All the Luck, Our Town, I'm Not Rappaport. Off-B'way: Far East, Ancestral Voices (Lincoln Center), Oblivion Postponed (Second Stage), On the Bum and Isn't It Romantic (Playwrights Horizons), The Innocents Crusade, and Life During Wartime (Manhattan Theatre Club), Ice Cream and Hot Fudge (NYSF), others. Other theatre: Nebraska (Dramalogue Award – La Jolla Playhouse, Later Life (Peterborough) Film: Anamorph, Bernard and Doris, Spinning Into Butter, Cold Mountain, Head of State, Far From Heaven, Scotland, PA, Meet the Parents, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Snow Falling on Cedars, Independence Day, The Game, Up Close & Personal, Scent of a Woman, Lorenzo's Oil, My Cousin Vinny, Basic Instinct, many others. TV: "Hack", "Seinfeld" (finale), "From Earth to Moon", "Law & Order" (several episodes),countless other TV series & MOW's as well as recurring roles on "The Practice," "Law and Order," "3rd Watch," "Wise Guy," "Kate and Allie," "Guiding Light," "As the World Turns," and the recent NBC series, "The Book of Daniel."

FRANCOIS BATTISTE (Tom). The Julliard School: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Black Russian, The Listener, As You Like It, A Soldier's Play, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The American Clock, In the Realm of Chelm, Semmelweiss, The Laundry Channel, The Two Noble Kinsman, The Workroom, Rosmersholm, Fortinbras, King Henry VI, Parts II and III. Regional: The Bomb-Itty of Errors, Hambone, They All Fall Down, Twelfth Night, Ritual, A Raisin in the Sun, Hellcab, No Place to be Somebody, Livin' Fat, Ugly. Film: Blood in the Sand, 51/50, One Week. Training: The Julliard School, 2006, The British American Drama Academy at Oxford, Illinois State University.

BRANDON DIRDEN (Ensemble). Broadway debut. Regional: Alley Theater, Ensemble Theater (both in his hometown of Houston, TX), Utah Shakespearean Festival, Horizon Theater, Alliance Theater, Georgia Shakespeare, Theater in the Square, 7 Stages, and the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival. Training: B.A.-Morehouse/Spelman College, M.F.A.-University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign.

MACINTYRE DIXON (Minister). Broadway: Slyfox, Gypsy, Crucible, Getting and Spending, 1776, A Funny Thing Happened…, The Tempest, Stewart, Beauty and the Beast, Call Me Madam, Sweet Adeline, Guys and Dolls, Threepenny Opera, Aline in Wonderland, Legallienne, Once in a Lifetime, Lithgow, Over Here, Twigs, Story Theatre, Harper. Off-Broadway: The Fantasticks, Comic Potential, Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet, Arms and the Man, little Murders, The Winter's Tale, Room Service, Much Ado About Nothing, Tom Foolery, Second City, The Mad Show. Film: School of Rock, A River Runs Through It, The Dream Team, Funny Farm, Batteries Not Included, Secret of My Success, Popeye, Health, Starting Over, The Front. TV: "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," "Guiding Light," Law & Order," "Cosby Mysteries," "Spenser for Hire," "All in the Family," "One Day at a Time," "Alice," "Eight is Enough…," PBS: "Hamlet," "The Ghost Writer" (Philip Roth)," Puddn' Head Wilcon," "Paradise Lost," "The Star."

MARCELINE HUGOT (Aunt Dorothy, Leah). Off-Broadway: The Prisoner's Song, Cider House Rules, The Misanthrope, Christina Alberta's Father, Trinity, Measure for Measure, The Maids, The Moonshot Tape. Regional: School for Scandal, Lake Hollywood, Twelth Night, Pride's Crossing, Changes of Heart, Private Lives, Great Expectations, The Boys Next Door, Coriolanus, A Moon for the Misbegotten.Film: Be Kind, Rewind, Never Forever, United 93, Beautiful Ohio, Hoax, Stephanie Daley, Fur, The Treatment, The Night Listener, The Favor, Uptown Girls, Personal Velocity, The Autumn Heart, To Wong Foo…, Dunston Checks In, Alice, Working Girl, Longtime Companion, Office Killer. TV: "Law & Order: Trial by Jury", "Law& Order: SVU", "Law & Order: Criminal Intent", "Law & Order", "Sex & The City". Education: BA, Brown University/MFA, University of California, San Diego.

MATTHEW RAUCH (Taylor). Off-Broadway: Hurlyburly (New Group/37 Arts), Book of Days (Signature). Broadway: Proposals. Regional: Modern Orthodox (Long Wharf),The Miser (Arena Stage), Henry V and Macbeth (Shakespeare Theatre), Arcadia and Ghosts (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis), The Brothers Karamazov (Cincinnati Playhouse), Book of Days (Hartford Stage), Black Snow, Cakewalk and The LA Plays (American Repertory Theatre), Othello (Philadelphia Drama Guild), and others. TV: ":Without a Trace," "Criminal Intent," "Jonny Zero," "Navy NCIS," "Leap of Faith," "The DA," "Law and Order," "Metropolis" (pilot). Film: Invitation to a Suicide, Frankenfish, Future Imperfect, Balkanization. Also: O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, New York International Fringe Festival, Lincoln Center Director's Lab, New York Stage and Film, Cape Cod Theatre Project. Matthew is a graduate of Princeton University and the A.R.T. Institute at Harvard.

John Rothman (Uncle Fred). Broadway: Some Americans Abroad (Lincoln Center); Social Security, directed by Mike Nichols. Off-Broadway: Rodney's Wife and Goodnight Children Everywhere (Playwrights Horizons); Death Defying Acts; The Impossible H.L. Mencken, which he wrote; The Argument (The Vineyard); Good Thing (New Group); The Mysteries (CSC). Regionally: A Flea in Her Ear, Absurd Person Singular, and The Admiral Crichton (Long Wharf); A Cup of Coffee ( Yale Rep ). His more than 50 films include United 93, Devil Wears Prada, Prime, Taxi, Copy Cat, Stardust Memories, Purple Rose of Cairo, Zelig, Ghostbusters, Big, Sophie's Choice. He has guest-starred on many TV shows, "Rescue Me," "Arrested Development," "Judging Amy," "Law and Order." He was a series regular on "Bird land", and "Stephen King's Golden Years." John is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama, a life time member of the Actors Studio, a company member at The Actors Center, as well as a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre.

Karen Walsh (Ensemble). New York: Suddenly Last Summer, Let's Face It, Sitting Pretty, The Flid Show. Regional: PlayMakers Repertory Co.- King Lear, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Hobson's Choice, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Playboy of the Western World, Laramie Project, Salome, Ivoryton Playhouse-Cabaret, Film: The Fugitive, TV: "A Grand Night for Singing". M.F.A from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Craig Lucas (Playwright). Craig Lucas recently won the Obie Award for Best American Play for Small Tragedy. His other plays include; Reckless, Blue Window, Prelude to a Kiss, God's Heart, The Dying Gaul, Missing Persons, Stranger and Singing Forest. Lucas wrote the book for the musical The Light in the Piazza, music and lyrics by Adam Guettel; the musical play Three Postcards, music and lyrics by Craig Carnelia; the opera libretti for Orpheus in Love, composer Gerald Busby, and he co-authored This Thing of Darkness with David Schulner. His other awards include an Obie for his direction of Harry Kondoleon's Saved or Destroyed, the Excellence in Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the PEN/Laura Pels mid-career achievement award, Outer Critics, L.A. Drama Critics, Drama Logue and LAMBDA Literary Awards as well as the Sundance Audience Award. His play Reckless was recently seen on Broadway at MTC's Biltmore Theatre in a production starring Mary Louise Parker. His screenplays include; The Secret Lives of Dentists (New York Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay), Longtime Companion, Prelude to a Kiss and Reckless. His most recent film is The Dying Gaul (Campbell Scott, Patricia Clarkson), which he wrote and directed.

Daniel Sullivan (Director) has directed in theatres both nationally and abroad. Dan recently directed the New York premiere of Stuff Happens at the Public Theater. Recent Broadway credits include Rabbit Hole, After the Night and the Music, Julius Caesar, Brooklyn Boy, Sight Unseen, The Retreat from Moscow, Proof (Tony Award), Morning's At Seven, I'm Not Rappaport, Major Barbara, A Moon for the Misbegotten, The Heidi Chronicles, Conversations With My Father, Lincoln Center's Ah! Wilderness, The Sisters Rosensweig, and An American Daughter. Recent off-Broadway credits include Third, Intimate Apparel, In Real Life, Ten Unknowns, Spinning Into Butter, Dinner With Friends (also Geffen Playhouse), Proof, Far East, Psychopathia Sexualis, A Fair Country, The Sisters Rosensweig, The Substance of Fire (also Los Angeles), and London Suite. From 1981 to 1997, Mr. Sullivan served as Artistic Director of Seattle Repertory Theatre, where he directed more than 60 productions including Uncle Vanya, Caucasian Chalk Circle, She Stoops To Conquer, Inspecting Carol, The Mandrake, The Wedding, As You Like It, Major Barbara among many others. He established Seattle Rep's new play program, developing new works by Jon Robin Baitz, Herb Gardner, A.R. Gurney, Arthur Miller, Wendy Wasserstein, Charlayne Woodard, and William Mastrosimone, among others. Mr. Sullivan's film and television credits include The Substance of Fire and the PBS presentation of "Far East." Mr. Sullivan teaches in the theatre department at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana and serves as Associate Director at Lincoln Center Theatre.

Roundabout Theatre Company would like to thank the Play Production Fund partners Steven and Liz Goldstone, The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation & Mary and David Solomon for their support of this production.

Roundabout Theatre Company is one of the country's leading not-for-profit theatres. The company contributes invaluably to New York's cultural life by staging the highest quality revivals of classic plays and musicals as well as new plays by established writers. Roundabout consistently partners great artists with great works to bring a fresh and exciting interpretation that makes each production relevant and important to today's audiences.

Roundabout Theatre Company currently produces at three permanent theatres each of which is designed specifically to enhance the needs of the Roundabout's mission. The off Broadway home, the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre's Laura Pels Theatre with its simple sophisticated design is perfectly suited to showcasing new plays while the grandeur of its Broadway home, American Airlines Theatre, sets the ideal stage for the classics. Roundabout's Studio 54 provides an exciting and intimate Broadway venue for its musical and special event productions. Together these three distinctive venues serve to enhance the work on each of its stages.

Roundabout productions are made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts; and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. American Express is the 2006-2007 season sponsor of the Roundabout Theatre Company. American Airlines is the official airline of Roundabout Theatre Company.

The 2006-2007 Roundabout Theatre Company season also includes Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick's The Apple Tree starring Kristin Chenoweth, directed by Gary Griffin; Harvey Schmidt, Tom Jones and N. Richard Nash's 110 In the Shade starring Audra McDonald, John Cullum & Steve Kazee, directed by Lonny Price; Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer with Blythe Danner, Carla Gugino & Gale Harold, directed by Mark Brokaw; Patrick Marber's Howard Katz with Alfred Molina, directed by Doug Hughes (American premiere); and Brian Friel's The Home Place directed by Joe Dowling (American premiere).

On September 19th, 2006 Roundabout Theatre Company premiered the first national tour of their critically acclaimed production of Reginald Rose's Twelve Angry Men, directed by Scott Ellis, starring George Wendt and Richard Thomas. The 32-week tour began at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut. This production marked the first time the show was ever seen on a Broadway stage. Its record-breaking run earned three Tony Award nominations and unanimous praise from the critics.

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