Photo Coverage: HEARTBREAK HOUSE Celebrates Opening Night

Heartbreak House celebrated its opening night last night, September 6. BroadwayWorld was there and you can check out all the photos below!

Shaw's timely classic comedy Heartbreak House plays Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues) through September 29th only.

Artistic Director David Staller directs a cast that features Alison Fraser(The Secret Garden - Tony & Drama Desk nominations, Romance/Romance - Tony nomination, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Gypsy directed by Arthur Laurents, Wicked; March of the Falsettos and In Trousers); Tom Hewitt(Broadway: Billy Flynn in Chicago, Dracula The Musical, Rocky Horror Show- Tony & Drama Desk nominations, Boys from Syracuse, Disney's Lion King as Scar, The Sisters Rosensweig): Jeff Hiller (Bright Colors and Bold Patterns; Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson; The Awesome 80's Prom; Silence! the Musical); Kimberly Immanuel (Off-Broadway: Pacific Overtures - Classic Stage Co, The Fantasticks); Derek Smith (Broadway: The Green Bird - Tony Award nomination, Ring Round the Moon, Getting and Spending, Scar in The Lion King, Jackie, The Government Inspector, Timon of Athens); Raphael Nash Thompson (The Red Letter Plays: f-ing A - Signature Theatre;Pericles, The Merchant of Venice - Theatre For A New Audience; Volpone, The Witch of Edmonton, Edward II, Pericles - Red Bull Theater; Ten Blocks on the Camino Real, The Seagull - Target Margin Theater; Harry and the Cannibals -La Mama), Lenny Wolpe (Bullets Over Broadway, The Drowsy Chaperone, Wicked, The Sound of Music, Mayor the Musical, Copperfield), and Karen Ziemba (Prince of Broadway, Bullets Over Broadway, Curtains - Tony & Drama Desk nominations, Never Gonna Dance - Tony nomination, Contact -Tony Award & Drama Desk Award), Steel Pier - Tony & Drama Desk nominations, Chicago, Crazy For You, 42nd Street, A Chorus Line, I Do I Do -Drama Desk nomination, And the World Goes 'Round - Drama Desk Award). The design team includes Brian Prather, scenic design; Barbara A. Bell, costumes; Christina Watanabe, lighting; and Toby Algya, sound.

This new adaptation of Shaw's infamous WWI play is set during the first days of the London Blitz (September 1940). We're in London's Ambassadors Theatre when the sirens go off. With the performance interrupted, the cast and audience have joined together to seek shelter in the theatre's basement. To entertain the crowd, the cast performs Shaw's most vital paean to resistance and perseverance against tyranny, Heartbreak House. Inspired by actual events as lived by Hermione Gingold during the WWII's darkest days, this revelatory approach will make Shaw's masterpiece more timely than ever. After many years struggling as a classical actress, Hermione Gingoldbecame famous during the early days of the war in London performing satirical musical revue sketches. As the bombs fell, she kept the shows going until the explosions came too close for comfort and would bring everyone below the stage for safety. To keep spirits up, she and her co-stars would entertain the group by presenting plays. The most often requested play was Shaw's most ardent plea for us to stand up to the coming storm, Heartbreak House. This production, inspired by GTG's namesake, a long-time friend of GTG Founding Artistic Director David Staller, will recreate one of these lively events.

Tickets for Heartbreak House are $69 (including theater restoration fee) and can be purchased online at Telecharge.com, by phone at 212-239-6200 or in person at the Theatre Row Box Office.

Photo Credit: Genevieve Rafter Keddy