Michael McKean Steps Into The Pajama Game; Other Casting Announced Too
By: BWW News Desk Nov. 10, 2005
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.
Last year, McKean starred as Edna Turnblad in Hairspray; he had previously been seen on Broadway in Accomplice, as well as in the Actors' Fund benefit concert of Hair. He also appeared off-Broadway in A Second-Hand Memory. Known for his longtime association with writer/director Christopher Guest, his many film and TV credits include A Mighty Wind, My First Mister, Best in Show, Coneheads, This is Spinal Tap, "Tracey Takes On," "Saturday Night Live," and "Laverne and Shirley."The Pajama Game was performed at Encores! in 2002; Brent Barrett and Karen Ziemba starred as the feuding lovers. The original production 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.
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