La Miranda Theatre Presents TALE OF THE ALLERGIST'S WIFE, 10/1-17

LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS & MC COY RIGBY ENTERTAINMENT are thrilled to present Marilu Henner, who will be reprising her critically-acclaimed Broadway performance as Lee Green and Caroline Aaron will star as Marjorie Taub in a newly-revised version of Charles Busch's hilarious Broadway hit, THE TALE OF THE ALLERGIST'S WIFE, directed by Jeff Maynard (The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee).   THE TALE OF THE ALLERGIST'S WIFE will open October 1 and run through Sunday, October 17 at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd in La Mirada.  The October 1^st performance of THE TALE OF THE ALLERGIST'S WIFE is a California Arts Day 2010 special event.

 An award-winning hit at the Manhattan Theatre Club and on Broadway, The Tale of the Allergist's Wife concerns the wife of a philanthropic allergist, who is engulfed in a life crisis of Medea like proportions.

Her children are grown, her beloved therapist died recently and her mother grates on her nerves. She tries to lose herself in a world of art galleries, foreign films and avant-garde theatre, but finds she is barely able to rouse herself from her sofa. Marjorie's spirits suddenly soar when Lee Green played by Marilu Henner (reprising her acclaimed Broadway performance), a fascinating and somewhat mysterious friend from her childhood, appears on her doorstep. 

Marilu Henner (Lee) is an actress, author, health guru, talk show host, producer, entrepreneur, director, dancer, singer, comedienne, model, and, most important, wife and mom!  A five-time Golden Globe nominee, Marilu has starred in over thirty films and television movies and a total of nine seasons on two highly successful Emmy award-winning classic TV sitcoms Taxi and Evening Shade.  Marilu has also starred in six hit Broadway Shows (including Grease, Chicago, and Tale of the Allergist's Wife) and has made over 2000 talk show appearances. It's no surprise that she won the "Talk Show Guest of the Year" award several years in a row. A multiple New York Times Best Selling Author, Marilu has changed millions of lives from the eight books she has written on health, fitness, and lifestyle, beginning with Marilu Henner's Total Health Makeover; followed by The 30-Day Total Health Makeover; I Refuse to Raise a Brat; Healthy Life Kitchen; Healthy Kids; Healthy Holidays; Party Hearty; and most recently Wear Your Life Well. Marilu also wrote an autobiography By All Means Keep On Moving.   

Throughout her extensive acting career, Marilu has worked with several legendary directors and has played opposite Hollywood's biggest co-stars.  Her film career began in the 1977 sleeper hit Between The Lines co-starring Jeff Goldblum.  Flown out to Hollywood for a screen test, she landed the role opposite Richard Gere in Robert Mulligan's Bloodbrothers.  In Francis Ford Coppola's Hammett, she played opposite her first husband, Frederic Forrest; In Blake Edwards' The Man Who Loved Women she played the girl pursued by Burt Reynolds for her beautiful legs, and again she starred with Reynolds as Shirley MacLaine's buddy in the star-studded comedy Cannonball Run II.                     

That same year Henner played opposite Michael Keaton in the cult classic Johnny Dangerously directed by Amy Heckerling, and with Tom Berenger in the spaghetti western comedy Rustlers Rhapsody. That same year she starred in Perfect with her good friend John Travolta and starred opposite him again in Chains of Gold.  Her award-winning role as Steve Martin's girlfriend-from-hell in L.A. Story was followed by the Peter Bogdanovich comedy Noises Off where she starred with Michael Caine and Carol Burnett and opposite the late great Christopher Reeve.  She starred again with Berenger in Chasers directed by Dennis Hopper, and in Man on the Moon, a film about her Taxi co-star Andy Kaufman, she played both herself and her Taxi character; Nominated for an ACE Award, Marilu played opposite Charles Grodin in Jules Pfeiffer's HBO's movie Grown Ups; Love With the Perfect Stranger; opposite Ian McShane in Grand Larceny; Lady Killers; in Batman: Mask of Phantasm; Fight For Justice: The Nancy Conn Story; With Nick Stahl in My Son Is Innocent; For the Future: the Irvine Fertility Scandal.  Henner played "Molly Brown" in the TV miniseries Titanic also starring Catherine Zeta Jones and directed by Marilu's second husband Robert Lieberman; A Tale of Two Bunnies; the independent film Lost In the Pershing Point Hotel; in Gone But Not Forgotten; in Love Rules; Joint Custody; and recently played the murderous villain in the Governor's Wife.

Television audiences know her best from her Emmy winning classic TV sitcoms, first as Elaine Nardo in Taxi (1978-1983) with Judd Hirsch, Danny DeVito, Tony Danza, Jeff Conaway, Christopher Lloyd and Andy Kaufman; and later as Ava Evans Newton, the wife of Burt Reynolds in Evening Shade (1990 -1994) which also starred Ossie Davis, HAl Holbrook, Charles Durning, and Elizabeth Ashley.  Marilu has starred in six hit Broadway Shows.  She created the role of "Marty" in the original production of Grease and then later reprised the role on Broadway; she then created the role of "Donna" at New York's Shubert Theatre in Over Here with the Andrews Sisters, which also co-starred John Travolta, Treat Williams, and Ann Reinking; next in the Broadway's revival of Pal Joey; then after a very successful run in film and on television, Marilu returned to Broadway with the comedy Social Security; then later starring as "Roxie Hart" in Chicago, the following year, she played "Annie" in the National Tour of Annie Get Your Gun; and then on Broadway as the sensual seductress "Lee" in Tale of the Allergist's Wife.

She hosted and executive produced her own talk shows three different times.  The first titled Marilu, later on The Discovery Channel's Shape Up Your Life for FitTV, and recently a series of interstitial mini-segments designed to teach and inspire positive lifestyle choices called The Art Of Living With Marilu Henner, which will be airing soon.

As a competitor on Donald Trump's Celebrity Apprentice, Marilu played for her favorite charity The Physicians' Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). She also hosted America's Ballroom Challenge on PBS for two years, and recently guest starred on Numb3rs, Party Down, My Boys, and in the series finale of ER.  She will soon be featured on 60 Minutes.

 Caroline Aaron (Marjorie) is an accomplished actor who's compiled a long list of film, television and theatre credits.  She's worked with such top directors as Woody Allen, Mike Nichols, Robert Altman, Nora Ephron, Tim Burton and Paul Mazursky among others.  Caroline made her feature film debut in John Sayles critically acclaimed feature The Brother From Another Planet and worked with Mr. Sayles again in Baby It's You.  Film audiences, perhaps, best know her as Woody Allen's sister in Crimes and Misdemeanors.  She re-teamed with Allen in Deconstructing Harry, Alice, Bullets Over Broadway and Husbands and Wives.  She's also enjoyed a long association with Nora Ephron appearing in Sleepless in Seattle, This is My Life, and Lucky Numbers.  Other highlights include Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands and Paul Mazursky's The Pickle and Stanley Tucci's Big Night.

She made her Broadway debut in Robert Altman's Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean and later reprised her role in the film.  Next on Broadway Caroline played the female lead in Jose Quintero/Jason Robards' revival of The Iceman Cometh.  The following season she starred in Mike Nichols smash comedy Social Security.  Nichols first directed her on film in Heartburn opposite Meryl Streep and she continued her association with him in such films as Working Girl, Primary Colors and What Planet Are You From?.

Other Highlights from her theatre career include the infamous Broadway production I Hate Hamlet and headlining the west coast premiere of Wendy Wasserstein's The Sisters Rosensweig at Mark Taper Forum for which she received both Helen Hayes and Drama-Logue Awards.  She was also honored by Ovation and Dramalogue Awards as Best Actress for the stage version of Dori Fram's Call Waiting.  Caroline was most recently seen in a critically acclaimed performance in Anon for The Atlantic Theatre Company. 

Caroline starred opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in Don Roos' Bounce for which she earned a Blockbuster Award nomination and continued her association with Roos when he produced the award winning film Call Waiting.  She can also be seen in New Line's Cellular opposite Bill Macy.   Caroline starred in Kevin Spacey's film Beyond the Sea, the biopic based on the life of singer Bobby Darin, playing both Darin's sister and mother, as well as the Just Like Heaven opposite Reese Witherspoon. She was recently seen starring with Emma Roberts in Warner Brothers' feature film version of Nancy Drew. Other recent films include Love Comes Lately with Barbara Hershey, Rhea Pearlman and Olivia Thirlby, Surveillance with Bill Pullman, Finding Bliss opposite Leelee Sobieski and Love Hurts with Jenna Elfman, Carrie-Anne Moss and Janeane Garofalo.  She will next be seen in the films Meeting Spencer opposite Jeffrey Tambor, Hard Breakers with Stephen Tobolowsky and Our Family Wedding with America Ferrera and Forest Whitaker.

She has guest starred and recurred on many television shows including Law and Order, Frasier, NYPD Blue, The Practice, Ally McBeal, Once and Again, Judging Amy, Mad About You and One on One and most recently Desperate Housewives, CSI: Miami, Monk, Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, Brothers and Sisters, CSI, Boston Legal, Shark and Entourage.  Among her favorite credits are HBO's Sex and the City, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Six Feet Under and the made-for-television movies An American Daughter, Tuesdays With Morrie, and most recently, The Revenge of the Middle Aged Woman.  

The cast also features: Rachid Sabitri, Eileen T'Kaye and Geoffrey Wade.   Jana Robbins will step into the role of Lee for both performances on October 9.

Charles Busch (Playwright) is the author and star of such plays as The Lady in Question, Red Scare on Sunset and Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, which ran five years and is one of the longest running plays in Off-Broadway history.  His play The Tale of the Allergist's Wife ran for 777 performances on Broadway and won Mr. Busch the Outer Circle Critics John Gassner Award and received a Tony nomination for Best Play.   He wrote and starred in the film versions of his plays, Psycho Beach Party and Die Mommie Die, the latter of which won him the Best Performance Award at the Sundance Film Festival.  In 2003, Mr. Busch received a special Drama Desk Award for career achievement as both performer and playwright. Mr. Busch made his directorial debut with the film A Very Serious Person, which premiered at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival, where it won an honorable mention.  He is also the subject of the documentary film The Lady in Question is Charles Busch.  His latest play The Third Story was produced in 2009 by MCC at the Lortel Theatre.

Jeff Maynard (Director) is pleased to be back at La Mirada, having directed last season's LA Times Critic's Choice - The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Also at La Mirada Theatre, the Pulitzer Prize winning Lost In Yonkers. Other recent directorial credits include collaborating with Jason Robert Brown on a new, revised version of the recent Broadway musical 13, the world premiere of Mad City by Meredith Stiehm and a workshop of Dave Rossmer & Dan Lipton's new musical Shoot! Cut! Print! Kill! Die! Jeff is proud to be a founding member of Buffalo Nights Theatre Company, having directed, acted or produced over 15 productions including: The Final Judgment, Modigliani, Meat, Anatol, Salome, Sophistry and The Madman & The Nun. He won a Drama-Logue Award for Max Frisch's The Firebugs, a BackStage West award for The Apollo of Bellac and LA Weekly's Revival Production of the Year award for Modigliani. Also in Los Angeles, he has directed the West Coast Premiere of the Ovation award nominated Tales of Tinseltown by Michael Colby and Paul Katz - at the Actor's Co-op. In upstate NY, Jeff's recent directorial work includes Nine, Seussical, Doubt, and The Laramie Project.  

As an actor Jeff appeared in the first national tour/Los Angeles Premiere of Lost In Yonkers, Biloxi Blues at the Court/Hudson Theatres, Enter Laughing & Taking Stock at the A.J.U.'s- "Let There Be Laughter" series, and TV appearances on Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Diagnosis Murder and the upcoming feature film The Illusion. Jeff currently runs the theatre program at The Mirman School, teaches private acting classes throughout Los Angeles and is a graduate of UCLA's School of Theater, Film & TelevisionTHE TALE OF THE ALLERGIST'S WIFE has assembled an award-winning design team. The set design is by Bruce Goodrich.  The lighting design is by Craig Pierce.  The costume design is by Julie Keen .  The sound design is by Josh Bessom. Prop design is by Terry Hanrahan. 

THE TALE OF THE ALLERGIST'S WIFE will begin performances on Friday, October 1 (with a press opening on Saturday, October 2) and runs for three weeks through Sunday, October 17.  Performances will be 7:30pm on Tuesdays through Thursdays; 8pm on Fridays; 2pm and 8pm on Saturdays; and 2pm and 7pm on Sundays. There will be no evening performance on Sunday, October 3.  There will be a talk-back session following the performance on Tuesday, October 5 and Jana Robbins will be replacing Marilu Henner for both performances on Saturday, October 9.

Tickets range from $35 - $50 and can be purchased at La Mirada Theatre's website, www.lamiradatheatre.com or by calling the La Mirada Theatre Box Office at (562) 944-9801 or (714) 994-6310. Student, Senior, Children and group discounts are available.