They seem nice, but you won't want to sample the Brewster sisters' wine! Arsenic and Old Lace, running January 28 through February 16, 2014 at the Fulton Theatre, brings the tale of the Brewsters' boarding house to stage in an uproarious dark comedy.
Arsenic and Old Lace is theatrical comedy at its finest!" said Marc Robin, Artistic Director of the Fulton Theatre. "The play is so off-kilter and quirky that it feels as fresh as if it were just written. There's a reason why it keeps being produced around the country for 75 years."
In this madcap comedy, drama critic Mortimer Brewster (
Damon Bonetti) hopes to marry the lovely Elaine Harper (
Jennie Eisenhower)... but will she fit in with his quirky, some would say "homicidal" family? His spinster aunts, Abby and Martha Brewster (
Mary Martello and Jane Ridley, respectively), are known throughout Brooklyn for their many acts of kindness and charity, taking lonely old men into their boarding home. They kill their guests with kindness, humor and... their homemade elderberry wine, laced with arsenic, strychnine, and "just a pinch" of cyanide!
"Look I probably should have told you this before...but you see... well... insanity runs in my family... it practically gallops." - Mortimer Brewster
Mortimer's brother Teddy (
Ben Dibble), who thinks he's Theodore Roosevelt, is down in the basement digging locks for the Panama Canal--a perfect place to hide some of the Brewsters' family secrets. When Mortimer's other brother Jonathan (
Dan Olmstead) arrives after having escaped from a prison for the criminally insane, Mortimer's plans to wed and his hope to safely commit Teddy and his aunts to the Happy Dale Sanitarium seem in jeopardy. This play has become a true comedy classic that has delighted and entertained audiences for decades and was adapted into a 1944 film directed by
Frank Capra and starring
Cary Grant.
Arsenic and Old Lace is a co-production with the
Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, Pa. The play will run at the Fulton Theatre from January 28 through February 16, 2014 then move to Philadelphia. Ticket prices start at $25-$65 but may increase with demand. Tickets are available through the Fulton Box Office at
717-397-7425 or online at
www.thefulton.org.
Under the direction
Charles Abbott, the cast features:
Damon Bonetti as Mortimer Brewster,
Ben Dibble as Teddy Brewster,
Jennie Eisenhower as Elaine Harper,
Laurent Giroux as Dr. Herman Einstein,
John-Charles Kelly as Officer O'Hara, Scott Lindley as Officer Klein,
Mary Martello as Abby Brewster,
Paul L. Nolan as Rev. Harper and Lieutenant Harper,
Dan Olmstead as
Jonathan Brewster,
Fran Prisco as Officer Brophy, Jane Ridley as Martha Brewster and
Peter Schmitz as
Mr. Gibbs and Mr. Witherspoon.
The design team includes Scenic Designer
Robert Klingelhoefer, Lighting Designer Shon Causer, Costume Designer
Colleen Grady, Hair and Makeup Designer Anthony Lascoskie, Jr., Sound Designer Jacob Mishler, Props Designer Katelin Walsko, and Stage Manager Timothy Markus.
