Michael Ball will Star in Patience at New York City Opera

On September 10th, West End star Michael Ball will make his New York City Opera debut in a production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience.

Patience, written in 1881, is a comic opera that skewers artistic pretention. The poets Bunthorne and Grosvenor woo two affected young ladies, only to have a regiment of dragoons follow their lead.

Ball will play the Wildean Bunthorne with Tonna Miller as the milk-maid of the title, Myrna Paris as Lady Jane, Kevin Burdette as Archibald Grosvenor, Timothy Nolen as Colonel Calverley, Matthew Burns as Major Murgatroyd and Christopher Jackson as The Duke of Dunstable. Tazewell Thompson will direct the production, with Gary Thor Wedow serving as conductor. The design team consists of Donald Eastman (sets), Merrily Murray-Walsh (costumes) and Robert Wierzel (lighting).

Ball recently replaced Michael Crawford as the flamboyantly evil Count Fosco in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Woman in White; he left the West End show on April 30th. Ball made his Broadway debut in 1990's Aspects of Love; it is his sole Broadway credit to date. He has performed on the West End in The Pirates of Penzance, Les Misérables (as the original Marius), The Phantom of the Opera, Passion and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. A noted recording star, his CDs include "Centre Stage," "Live at the Royal Albert Hall," "The Movies," "The Musicals," "First Love," and "Always."

Patience, at the New York State Theatre at Lincoln Center, will run on the following performance schedule: Sept. 10 at 8 PM, Sept. 12 at 7:30 PM, Sept. 17 at 1:30 PM, Sept. 23 at 8 PM, Sept. 27 at 7:30 PM, Sept. 30 at 8 PM, Oct. 2 at 1:30 PM and Oct. 5 at 7:30 PM.

Tickets are currently available through subscriptions and group sales, and single tickets will be available for purchase beginning on August 1st.

For more information, visit www.nycopera.com