McGrath and Kritzer Team Up For Cape's 'Born Yesterday'

America's longest running professional summer theatre, The Cape Playhouse, will proudly present the 1940's comedy Born Yesterday as their fifth summer offering.  The production will star Leslie Kritzer as the dim-witted showgirl, Billie Dawn, along side Michael McGrath as the shrewd tycoon, Harry Brock.  Born Yesterday opens on Monday, August 18th.

Garson Kanin's comedy will be directed by Pamela Hunt and will play the Massachusetts theatre institution for a strictly limited engagement August 18th - August 30th.

Fresh off the great white way is Leslie Kritzer, who was last seen as Jane Hurley in A Catered Affair for which she received a Drama Desk Award Nomination.  Other Broadway credits include Legally Blonde and Hairspray.  Off-Broadway, Leslie was seen in The Great American Trailer Park Musical (Drama Desk Nomination), Bat Boy, and Godspell.  In 2007 she received a Special Achievement MAC Award for her show Leslie Kritzer Is Patti LuPone at Les Mouches.  Joining Kritzer will be Michael McGrath in his second production at the Cape Playhouse this season, having starred in A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine.  The accomplished actor received a Tony Award nomination and Drama Desk Award nomination for Spamalot and won a Theatre World Award in 1996 for Swinging on a Star.   Featured in Little Me, Anything Goes and Wonderful Town, he was most recently seen on Broadway in Is He Dead?  Completing the cast will be Ross Bickell (Wrong Mountain, Noises Off), Michael Keyloun (Lend Me a Tenor), David Furr (Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf, Cymbeline), Suzanna Hay (A Month in the Country, Dance of Death) and Cape Playhouse regular Brad Bellamy.

This 1940's comedy centers on a crude tycoon (Michael McGrath) who brings his showgirl-mistress (Leslie Kritzer) to Washington D.C. where he hopes to 'buy' a few congressmen with her charms.  Unfortunately, her social and intellectual ignorance becomes a hindrance to his business prospects, so he hires a journalist to give her a crash course in history, politics and literature. Properly educated and presentable, she recognizes the crook for what he is worth and falls in love with her tutor.

The summer season at the Cape Playhouse began June 23-July 5 with Marc Salem's Mind Games. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels makes its regional debut July 21-Aug. 2, followed by Leader of the Pack, Aug. 4-16; Born Yesterday, Aug. 18-30; and The Devil's Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith, Sept. 1-13.

The Cape Playhouse is located in Dennis, MA, at 820 Route 6A. For tickets and more information call (508) 385-3911 or visit www.capeplayhouse.com.

Photo Credit Peter James Zielinski