Cast And Creatives Of Steve Martin's THE UNDERPANTS Announced At The Old Globe

The Old Globe today announced the cast and creative team of a sparkling comedy in our summer season, The Underpants, by the Globe's second-most-popular playwright-in-residence, Steve Martin. Directed by multiple-award winner Walter Bobbie (Globe and Broadway's Bright Star, Broadway's Venus in Fur, Chicago) and adapted from Die Hose by Carl Sternheim, the play was originally commissioned by Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein when he ran New York's Classic Stage Company. This is the fourth Martin work in recent seasons at the Globe, from 2014's world premiere musical Bright Star, which went on to Broadway and five Tony Award nominations, to 2016's twice-extended, world-premiere comedy Meteor Shower, to 2017's smash-hit revival of Picasso at the Lapin Agile.

The Underpants begins performances July 27 and has already been extended by popular demand to run through September 1, 2019 in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run July 27 - July 31. Opening night is Thursday, August 1 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets start at $30.00 and are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE, or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.

A riotous farce adapted from a playwright often dubbed "the German Molière." Newly married Louise is bored with her demanding and uptight bureaucrat husband. Then one day at the royal parade, she jumps up on a bench to see the king go by, and oops!-her bloomers come loose and fall down around her ankles, right in front of everyone. Her husband is frantic with worry about losing his job and their reputation. But suddenly the room they've been trying to rent out has plenty of takers, and it just might have something to do with...the underpants. Legendary comedian and writer Steve Martin, who gave Globe audiences world premiere hits like Bright Star and Meteor Shower, makes Carl Sternheim's "racy" German comedy a hilarious look at female empowerment, sudden fame, and the idiocy a beautiful woman inspires in the men who love her. The New York Times calls it "an amalgam of comic book and social commentary made out of sex jokes, slamming doors, and sophisticated repartee. The Underpants is often laugh-out-loud funny!"

The cast includes Jeff Blumenkrantz as Klinglehoff (Globe's Damn Yankees, Broadway's Bright Star, Off Broadway's Murder for Two, Fosse/Verdon), Michael Bradley Cohen as Benjamin Cohen (Henry V, Twelfth Night for The Public Theater's Mobile Unit, Punchdrunk's Sleep No More), Regina De Vera as Louise Maske (The Merchant of Venice for Tanghalang Pilipino Actors' Company, Into the Woods, Three Sisters, Mother Courage and Her Children at The Juilliard School), Joanna Glushak as Gertrude Deuter (Broadway's A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder and War Paint, Gloria: A Life, "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel"), Eddie Kaye Thomas as Theo Maske (Broadway's The Diary of Anne Frank and Four Baboons Adoring the Sun, American Pie, Harold & Kumar, "Scorpion"), Luis Vega as Frank Versati (The Humans national tour, As You Like It at Guthrie Theater, Seize the King at La Jolla Playhouse), and Kris Zarif as King (Globe's A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot at Triad Productions, tempOdyssey at Teatro ALTO).

The award-winning Broadway veterans on the creative team include John Lee Beatty (Scenic Design; Globe's Much Ado About Nothing, King Richard II, and Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Broadway's Venus in Fur, The Color Purple, and Rabbit Hole), Alejo Vietti (Costume Design; Globe's Familiar, Allegiance, and Brighton Beach Memoirs, Broadway's Allegiance and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical), Philip S. Rosenberg (Lighting Design; Broadway's Pretty Woman: The Musical, The Elephant Man, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder), Nevin Steinberg (Sound Design; Globe's The Tale of Despereaux and Bright Star, Broadway's Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen, Tony Award winner for Hadestown), James Calleri and Paul Davis, Calleri Casting (Casting), and Marie Jahelka (Production Stage Manager).

"The Underpants is a play that's been in my life for nearly 20 years, and it's brought me enormous laughter and joy over that time," said Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. "Back in 2000, when I was running Classic Stage Company in New York City, I asked Steve Martin to adapt Carl Sternheim's play. He turned this strange comedy from Germany in 1910 into a fresh and riotous farce that's suffused with Steve's very particular brand of highbrow-lowbrow hilarity. It's about how we don't think straight when we fall in love, it's about how a marriage grows, it's about fame, and most of all it's about the consequences of a wardrobe malfunction. It's also about the happy return of Steve Martin to the Globe. Our audiences love him, and it's a pleasure to round out his wonderful body of stage plays-Picasso at The Lapin Agile, Meteor Shower, and Bright Star-with this sparkling comedy. Tony Award winner Walter Bobbie continues his own collaboration with Steve Martin, and he's brought an astonishing team of Broadway veterans to collaborate with him and a stellar cast of actors to make a production that will enchant Globe's audiences. I can't wait to share it with San Diego!"

There are numerous free parking lots available throughout the park. Guests may be dropped off in front of the Mingei International Museum. There is a 10-minute zone at The Old Globe, used only for daytime deliveries, ticket purchases, and handicapped access dropoff. For directions and up-to-date information, please visit www.theoldglobe.org/plan-your-visit/directions--parking/detailed-directions.

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