Campbell Scott, Marcia Gay Harden, Hope Davis at NY Philharmonic

Campbell Scott, Academy Award-winner Marcia Gay Harden, Hope Davis, Linda Emond, Reg Rogers, Lorenzo Pisoni, and Jeremy Shamos will make their New York Philharmonic debuts in the Orchestra's semi-staged production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, featuring Mendelssohn's Complete Incidental Music. The production, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner and directed by Edward Berkeley, will be performed March 17–19 and 22, 2005. The actors, who will appear in multiple roles, join soprano Susan Gritton, mezzo-soprano Patricia Risley (Philharmonic debut), and the Women of the New York Choral Artists, Joseph Flummerfelt, director. A Midsummer Night's Dream is the first program in the New York Philharmonic Festival: Visions of the Beyond (March 17–April 16, 2005).

In this warmly comic tale, humans become puppets in the hands of the immortals, and are doomed to act out their whims and agendas. The main plot is a complex farce that involves two sets of couples (Hermia and Lysander and Helena and Demetrius) whose romantic intrigues are confused and further complicated after they enter the enchanted forest where Oberon, the King of the Fairies, and his Queen, Titania, preside. Puck (or Robin Goodfellow), Oberon's jester, is full of mischief and tricks, while Bottom, the weaver, and his friends Snug, Snout, Quince, and Flute, want to rehearse their hilarious rendering of the play, Pyramus and Thisby.

Campbell Scott performs the roles of Oberon, and Theseus; Marcia Gay Harden portrays Hermia, Quince (Prologue), and Cobweb; Hope Davis plays Helena, Snout (Wall), and Moth; Linda Emond is Hippolyta and Titania; Reg Rogers is Egeus, Philostrate, Puck, Starveling (Moonshine), and Mustardseed; Lorenzo Pisoni plays Demetrius, Flute (Thisby), and Peaseblossom; and Jeremy Shamos is Lysander and Bottom (Pyramus).

Director Edward Berkeley describes A Midsummer Night's Dream as "a healing piece" whose "power lies in its ability to transform the audience from a state of confusion, of upset, to one where a healing can happen, where we can find an acceptance of ourselves and of others. In preparing these performances, one of the things I have had in mind is, of course, Mendelssohn's music, specifically its absolute beauty. It transports us to the world of fairies and the Dream, and then back to the real world, with the 'Wedding March.' It is, of course, comic, but also quite serious."

A 45-minute Tuesday Night Box-Dinner Talk touching on aspects of the evening's program, will take place on March 22 at 6:00 p.m., prior to the concert, in the Helen Huntington Hull Room at Avery Fisher Hall. Speaker tba. Tickets are $20 in addition to the concert ticket, and include a box dinner. Information: (212) 875-5656.

Artists (in alphabetical order)

Hope Davis (Helena, Snout [Wall], Moth) was named 2003 Best Actress by the New York Film Critics Circle for her work in American Splendor, directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (and for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award), and Alan Rudolph's The Secret Lives of Dentists (opposite Campbell Scott, for which she was nominated for an IFP Spirit Award). She first garnered critical attention in Greg Mottola's The Daytrippers, Bart Freundlich's The Myth of Fingerprints, and Brad Anderson's Next Stop Wonderland. Her films also include Matador, with Greg Kinnear and Pierce Brosnan; Gore Verbinski's The Weatherman, opposite Nicolas Cage and Michael Caine; John Madden's adaptation of David Auburn's Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning play Proof, opposite Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins, and Jake Gyllenhaal; and Dumas and Me for Carroll Ballard. Most recently, she filmed Every Word Is True, directed by Doug McGrath. Ms. Davis's film appearances have included the role of Jack Nicholson's daughter in Alexander Payne's About Schmidt; Hearts in Atlantis, opposite Anthony Hopkins; Campbell Scott's Final, with Denis Leary; Arlington Road, with Jeff Bridges and Tim Robbins; and Lawrence Kasdan's Mumford. On stage Ms. Davis has appeared at Lincoln Center Theater in Spinning into Butter; Ivanov, opposite Kevin Kline; and Two Shakespearean Actors. Off-Broadway, she has appeared in Pterodactyls, The Food Chain, The Iceman Cometh, and David Mamet's Speed the Plow, directed by Joel Schumacher.

Linda Emond (Hippolyta, Titania) received an Obie Award, the Lucille Lortel Award, and nominations for the Drama Desk, Los Angeles Drama Critics, and Los Angeles Ovation awards for her work as The Homebody in three productions of Tony Kushner's Homebody/Kabul. She received a Tony nomination as well as the Outer Critics Circle Award for her work in Life x 3 on Broadway. Other stage credits include AbiGail Adams in 1776 (Broadway); The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (National Actors Theatre) opposite Al Pacino; An Experiment with an Air Pump (Manhattan Theatre Club); and in the premieres of Craig Lucas's The Dying Gaul (Vineyard Theater); Kander and Ebb's Over & Over (Signature); Peter Hedges's Baby Anger (Playwrights Horizons); A.R. Gurney's Far East (Williamstown); and Leslie Ayvazian's Nine Armenians (Manhattan Theatre Club, Drama Desk nomination). Her television work includes The Sopranos, Law & Order, Third Watch, Wonderland, and the upcoming American Experience: John and AbiGail Adams, in which she portrays Abigail. Film appearances include City by the Sea, A Gentleman's Game, Almost Salinas, The Dying Gaul, and the upcoming Dark Water. In Shakespeare's canon, Ms. Emond has played Lady Montague and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet; Octavia in Julius Caesar; Gertrude in Hamlet; and Lady Macbeth and Hecate in Macbeth.

Marcia Gay Harden (Hermia, Quince [Prologue], Cobweb) won an Academy Award in 2000 for her portrayal of Lee Krasner opposite Ed Harris in the feature film Pollock, about the pioneer Abstract Expressionist painter, Jackson Pollock, and his artist wife. That same year she also won the New York Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress, and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. Ms. Harden received an Academy Award nomination in 2003 for Best Supporting Actress in Mystic

River, directed by Clint Eastwood. Recently, she starred with Laura Linney in Dylan Kidd's P.S., and stars opposite Billy Bob Thornton and Greg Kinnear in Bad News Bears,

scheduled for release in June 2005. She recently wrapped production on the independent film American Gun, co-starring Forest Whitaker and Donald Sutherland. In 2003 she took a comic turn in Mike Newell's Mona Lisa Smile, co-starring Julia Roberts. Other film credits include Miller's Crossing, Late for Dinner, Used People, Space Cowboys, Meet Joe Black, Desperate Measures, The First Wives' Club, and Gaudi Afternoon. Ms. Harden was featured on Broadway in Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Angels in America, which earned her a Tony nomination, a Drama Desk Award, and a Theater World Award. Recently, she appeared as Masha in the New York Public Theatre's production of The Seagull, directed by Mike Nichols.

Lorenzo Pisoni (Demetrius, Flute [Thisby]) is the son of Pickle Family Circus founders Peggy Snider and Larry Pisoni. He began performing in the circus ring at the age of two, and remained in his parents' circus until the age of 14, when he began working with other circuses in Europe and Japan. He became an accomplished acrobat, juggler, aerialist, and clown, and concluded his circus career in Las Vegas as the Ringmaster in Cirque du Soleil's Mystère, retiring from the ring at age 23. As an actor, he has worked primarily in the classics: Shakespeare's Henry IV (Lincoln Center Theater, with Kevin Kline, Ethan Hawke, Audra McDonald, and Dana Ivey); As You Like It (The Public Theater); Much Ado About Nothing (New York Shakespeare Festival, with Kristen Johnston, Jimmy Smits, and Sam Waterston); The Tempest (McCarter Theatre with Blair Brown); Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare & Company); and Troilus and Cressida (Theatre for a New Audience, directed by Sir Peter Hall). Other productions include The Last Dance (Manhattan Theatre Club with JoBeth Williams) and Clown, Clown, Clown ... (Seattle Repertory Theater with his father). He has worked in television and film and as a choreographer and physical comedy consultant on Bill Irwin's Harlequin Studies, Elaine May's Taller Than a Dwarf (with Matthew Broderick), Lobster Alice, and See Spot Run (with David Arquette).

Reg Rogers (Egeus, Philostrate, Puck, Starveling [Moonshine], and Mustardseed) has performed in a number of productions in New York, including Cole Porter's Can-Can! for ENCORES! at City Center; Richard Greenberg's Hurrah at Last and The Dazzle, both at the Roundabout Theatre Company; John Patrick Shanley's Four Dogs and a Bone and Cellini; the role of Jimmy Porter in John Osborne's Look Back in Anger; Philip Barry's Holiday at the Circle in the Square; and seven seasons at New York Stage and Film. MR. Rogers has received Obie and Lucille Lortel awards, and has been nominated for Tony and Drama Desk awards. His regional appearances have brought him to Chicago's Guthrie Theater, Yale Repertory Theatre, A.C.T.–San Francisco, The Kennedy Center, San Diego's Old Globe, Baltimore Center Stage, Williamstown Theatre Festival, New Haven's Long Wharf Theatre, and London's Battersea Arts Center. Reg Roger's work in film and television includes I Shot Andy Warhol, Primal Fear, Runaway Bride, 'Til There Was You, I'll Take You There, Jump, Get Well Soon, The Photographer, Analyze That, NBC's Friends, CBS's Chicago Hope, NBC's Ed, ABC's Miss Match, ABC's Eyes, HBO's GIA, and CBS's Stone Cold. He is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.

Campbell Scott (Theseus, Oberon, Snug [Lion]) studied with Stella Adler and Geraldine Page. His Broadway appearances include Long Day's Journey into Night with Jason Robards and Colleen Dewhurst; Ah! Wilderness; Hay Fever; and The Queen and the Rebels. He played the title role in Hamlet at The Old Globe in San Diego and at Boston's Huntington Theatre; his other Shakespearean roles include Angelo in Measure for Measure at Lincoln Center, Pericles at the New York Shakespeare Festival, and Iago in Othello at the Philadelphia Drama Guild. His regional appearances include Our Town, Gillette, School for Wives, and, for the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Miss Julie and Dead End. Campbell Scott's films include Bernardo Bertolucci's The Sheltering Sky; Kenneth Branagh's Dead Again; Joel Schumacher's Dying Young (opposite Julia Roberts); Cameron Crowe's Singles; John Schlesinger's The Innocent; Alan Rudolph's Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle; Only with You; Let It Be Me; David Mamet's The Spanish Prisoner (co-starring Steve Martin); Stanley Tucci's Big Night, The Daytrippers, Ship of Fools, Other Voices, Lush, Delivering Milo, Roger Dodger, Secret Lives of Dentists, and, in 2004, Marie and Bruce. On television he starred as Joseph Kennedy, Jr., in The Kennedys of Massachusetts; co-starred with Ben Kingsley and Joanna Lumley in Sweeney Todd (Showtime); appeared in Shot in the Heart (HBO); and co-starred with Jennifer Jason Leigh in both The Love Letter and Follow the Stars Home (both on the HallMark Hall of Fame). He co-directed the film Big Night and directed Off the Map.

Jeremy Shamos (Lysander, Bottom [Pyramus]) appeared in two Broadway shows, two Off-Broadway shows, and spent a month at the Williamstown Theater Festival in 2004. On Broadway he was game show host Tim Timko in the Manhattan Theater Club's production of Reckless, and then played Bob Acres in Lincoln Center Theater's production of The Rivals. Off-Broadway he played Cheviot Hill in Theater for a New Audience's production of W.S. Gilbert's Engaged at the Lucille Lortel Theater, and Karl in the world premiere of Melissa James Gibson's Suitcase at Soho Rep. In Williamstown, Mr. Shamos played Bottom in Nicholas Martin's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. His other Off-Broadway credits include Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme at Lincoln Center Theater, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) at the Century Center, Hamlet and Cymbeline at the New York Shakespeare Festival, and Corpus Christi at the Manhattan Theatre Club. Regionally he played Scapin at the Court Theater in Chicago, and won the Connecticut Critics Circle Award for his work in the world premiere of William Luce's Baptiste. He played Lelie, the bungler, in the American premiere of Richard Wilbur's translation of The Bungler, Molière's first play, at the Long Wharf Theatre. On television he appeared on CBS's Hack and appears in the upcoming film, Trust the Man. Mr. Shamos has an M.F.A. from the Tisch School of the Arts' Graduate Acting program at New York University.

These concerts are generously underwritten by The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation.

The March 17 concert is dedicated to Tom and Diahn McGrath in appreciation for their participation in the Leonard Bernstein Circle.

96.3 FM WQXR is the Radio Home of the New York Philharmonic.

Programs of the New York Philharmonic are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Single tickets for these performances are $25 to $90. All tickets may be purchased by calling (212) 875-5656, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday; and noon to 8:00 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets may also be purchased at the Avery Fisher Hall Box Office, Lincoln Center, Broadway at 65th St. The Box Office opens at 10:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and at noon on Sunday. On performance evenings, the Box Office closes one-half hour after performance time; other evenings it closes at 6:00 p.m. A limited number of $10 tickets may be available to students/seniors/disabled persons on the day of the performance, at the Avery Fisher Hall Box Office. Identification is required. To determine ticket availability, call the Philharmonic's Customer Relations Department on the day of performance at (212) 875-5656. Tickets may be ordered online through the New York Philharmonic's secure Website: newyorkphilharmonic.org. The Philharmonic's 24-hour hotline, (212) 875-5709, provides information on this and other New York Philharmonic programs.