Norbert Leo Butz and More to Star in THE RECIPE at La Jolla Playhouse

La Jolla Playhouse has revealed the cast and creative team for its world-premiere production of The Recipe, by Tony Award nominee Claudia Shear (Playhouse's Restoration), based on the book Dearie by Bob Spitz, directed by Obie Award winner Lisa Peterson (Playhouse's An Iliad), running February 10 – March 22 in the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre.

The cast features Jill Abramovitz as “Simca and others,” Norbert Leo Butz as “Paul Child,” Christina Kirk as “Julia Child,” Rami Margron as “Madame Brassard and others,” Michael Park as “McWilliams and others,” Ariel Shafir as “Tom and others,” and Saisha Talwar as “Louise and others,” along with ensemble members Germainne Lebron, Torkan Omari and Kenneth Ray; and understudies Jason Heil, Amanda Naughton, Drew Springer-Miller and Jim Stanek.

The creative team includes David Neumann, Choreographer; Rachel Hauck, Scenic Design; Linda Cho, Costume Design; Ben Stanton, Lighting Design; André Pluess, Sound Design and Original Music; Edward Sobel, Dramaturg; Andrea Caban, Dialect Coach; Caparelliotis Casting, David Caparelliotis, CSA and Hannah Reinert, Casting; Dean Remington, Stage Manager; and Alexa Burn, Assistant Stage Manager.

Before Julia Child became the TV personality that we all know, she was a rambunctious rebel against the privileged but bland life expected of her. Directionless but driven, careening from Pasadena to New York to Washington D.C. to Ceylon and finally to Paris's famed Cordon Bleu cooking school, she battled long odds, too-short sleeves, and her own self-doubt before finding both her calling and her true love, her husband, Paul Child. Two-time Tony Award nominee Claudia Shear and two-time Obie Award winner Lisa Peterson return to the Playhouse with The Recipe, a funny, colorful and delicious new play about the early life of an endlessly fascinating character – Julia, a girl from Pasadena – and her path from confusion to discovery, fear to strength, failure to success.