Kritzer Cast in Broadway-Bound 'Catered Affair'

Jujamcyn Theaters has announced that this year's Clarence Derwent Award-winner Leslie Kritzer will return to Broadway next season as a star of A Catered Affair, the new musical with book by four-time Tony Award-winner Harvey Fierstein, score by John Bucchino and directed by Tony Award-winner John Doyle.  Starring the previously announced Faith Prince and Fierstein, A Catered Affair will open at a Jujamcyn theater (to-be-announced) in the coming season during Spring 2008.  Prior to Broadway, the new musical will inaugurate the 2007-8 Season at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre (performances begin September 20th), according to producer Jordan Roth (Vice President, Jujamcyn Theaters).

In A Catered Affair, Leslie Kritzer will create the role of 'Jane Hurley,' the bride-to-be in this musical set in 1953 Bronx centered on a family wedding. Kritzer's casting establishes her opposite Ms. Prince who will play her mother 'Aggie' and Mr. Fierstein who will play her uncle 'Winston.'

Kritzer is this season's recipient of the Clarence Derwent Award for her performance in Legally Blonde The Musical.  For 62 years, the Derwent award has been presented by the Actors' Equity Foundation to honor "the most promising female  and male performers on the New York metropolitan scene." Kritzer made her Broadway debut in Hairspray, received a Drama Desk nomination for her performance Off- Broadway in The Great American Trailer Park Musical and most recently, has earned critical acclaim (and a bonafide cult following) for her highly unique cabaret show, "Leslie Kritzer is Patti LuPone at Les Mouches."

"Funny, heartbreaking and oh so human, A Catered Affair reveals relationships strained to their limits when a couple must decide whether to spend their life savings on a family business or to launch their only daughter's marriage with a lavish catered affair.  Harvey Fierstein's book and John Bucchino's score seize the opportunity to explore the meaning of family and the need for love, both new and reawakened," as press notes state.

A Catered Affair will be produced on Broadway by Jujamcyn Theaters, Harvey Entertainment/Ron Fierstein, Richie Jackson and Daryl Roth.  The musical is based on the Turner Entertainment motion picture distributed by Warner Brothers and written by Gore Vidal, and the original teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky.

The complete cast and design team will be announced shortly.

Photo of Leslie Kritzer by Linda Lenzi

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