Patti LuPone to Reunite with Laura Benanti in CBS Pilot 'Open Books'

According to The Hollywood Reporter, former stage mother-daughter duo, Patti LuPone and Laura Benanti, may get a round two.  Like thier Gypsy counterparts, LuPone has reportedly signed on to star as Benanti's tough-loving mother in the new CBS pilot, Open Books, to which Benanti has been long attached. 

This will be the first time the Tony-winning pair for Gypsy will have reunited professionally on a project.

Benanti will star as June, a book editor in New York at a specialty publishing house. The show will be procued by WBTV and Gail Lerner, producer of the hit television show "Will and Grace."

LuPone's recent stage credits include her Tony-winning role of Rose in Gypsy, her debut with the Los Angeles Opera in Weill-Brecht's Mahagonny, the world premiere of Jake Heggie's new opera To Hell and Back with San Francisco's Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Mrs. Lovett in John Doyle's award winning Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Award nominations - Best Actress in a Musical; Drama League Award for Outstanding Contribution to Musical Theatre), the title role in Marc Blitzstein's Regina, a musical version of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes at Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center, a critically acclaimed performance as Fosca in a concert version of Stephen Sondheim's Passion, which was also broadcast on PBS' Live From Lincoln Center, and a multi-city tour of her theatrical concert Matters of the Heart. She has also performed Matters of the Heart internationally, including runs at Australia's Sydney Festival and London's Donmar Warehouse Theatre. She has recently been touring An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin with former Evita co-star Mandy Patinkin internationally.

Film credits include City By The Sea, David Mamet's Heist, State and Main; Just Looking, Summer of Sam, The 24 Hour Woman, Family Prayers, Driving Miss Daisy, Witness. On TV LuPone has appeared in PBS Great Performances The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Ugly Betty, Will & Grace (as herself), PBS Great Performances' Candide, Oz , the TNT film Monday Night Mayhem, PBS' Evening At The Pops with John Williams and Yo Yo Ma, Falcone, Bonanno: A Godfather's Story (Showtime); Frasier (1998 Emmy nomination); Law & Order, An Evening with Patti LuPone (PBS), the NBC movie Her Last Chance, Showtime's ACE Award and Emmy nominated The Song Spinner (Daytime Emmy nomination, Best Actress), The Water Engine, L.B.J., AMC's Remember WENN and ABC's Life Goes On.

Equally accomplished, Tony Award-winning actress Laura Benanti has received a Tony Award for her portrayal of Gypsy Rose Lee in Gypsy, and earned Tony nominations for her roles in Swing! and the revival of Into the Woods opposite Vanessa Williams.

Her Broadway credits include Gypsy (for which she won a 2008 Tony Award), The Wedding Singer, Nine, Into the Woods (Tony nomination), Swing! (Tony nomination), and The Sound of Music, and most recently In The Next Room which had a short run this season and closed in January. Off-Broadway, she has appeared in the City Center Encores! production of Wonderful Town and Time and Again at Manhattan Theater Club.

 

 

 

 

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.

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