Harry Connick Jr. Featured on NBC's Today, Nov. 29

By: Nov. 28, 2005
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Harry Connick, Jr., soon to be seen in the Broadway revival of The Pajama Game, will be featured on NBC's "Today" on Tuesday, November 29th during the 8:00-9:00AM hour on channel 4 (NBC).

The musical, which will star Connick Jr. (composer/lyricist of Thou Shalt Not, South Pacific movie with Glenn Close) as Sid, Kelli O'Hara (The Light in the Piazza, Dracula) as Babe and Michael McKean (Hairspray) as Hines, will open at the American Airlines Theatre on February 23rd, after previews on January 19th.

The show will also feature Megan Lawrence (Urinetown, Les Miserables) as Gladys, Joyce Chittick (Sweet Charity, Wonderful Town) as Mae, Peter Benson (Wonderful Town, Little Me) as Prez, Michael McCormick (Gypsy, Marie Christine) as Pop and Ganzenlicher, Richard Poe (Fiddler on the Roof, 1776), and Roz Ryan (One Mo' Time, Chicago) as Mabel. 

The Roundabout Theatre Company will produce the show with commercial producers, Jeffrey Richards, Scott Landis and James Fuld. Kathleen Marshall (Two Gentlemen of Verona, Wonderful Town, Kiss Me, Kate) is set to direct and choreograph the show.

The Pajama Game is to feature two new songs in its classic Richard Adler-Jerry Ross score, and the original book by George Abbott and Richard Bissell will be revised by Peter Ackerman. The Pajama Game is set during union disputes at the Sleep-Tite Pajama Factory, and centers around a love story between two people representing opposing sides of the dispute.
 
Harry Connick, Jr. will make his Broadway performing debut in The Pajama Game. His concert production Harry Connick, Jr. and His Orchestra - Live on Broadway was produced in 1990 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. In 2001, he received a Tony nomination for Best Original Score for Thou Shalt Not, directed by Susan Stroman. He also co-starred alongside Glenn Close in the 2001 TV film of Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific. Connick, whose recordings have sold more than 20 million copies and have netted him three Grammy Awards, has also appeard in the films Memphis Belle, Little Man Tate, Copycat, Independence Day, and Hope Floats. He is also an Emmy Award-winner for the Great Performances/PBS concert special Harry Connick, Jr.: Only You In Concert.

The Pajama Game opened at the St. James Theatre on May 13th, 1954 to run for 1,063 performances; the show won Tonys for Best Musical, for Bob Fosse's choreography and for Carol Haney as Best Featured Actress in a Musical (understudy Shirley MacLaine would become a star by going on for her one night). The show, which was directed by Abbott and Jerome Robbins, features such hits in its score as "Hernando's Hideaway," "Steam Heat," "There Once Was a Man," and "Hey There." The Pajama Game became a 1957 film starring Doris Day and was revived once before in 1973.

For more information, and to purchase tickets - visit www.roundabouttheatre.org.  To learn about Jerry Ross, visit www.jerryross.net.

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