Playwrights 'Memory' preem goes Wiest
Ashcroft focus of Off B'way show
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In Tolan's play, an innocuous question on a college entrance essay prompts a teenage girl to confront her mother (Wiest) about the ethics of her own international adoption.
"Memory House" is the fifth production in Playwrights Horizons' current season.
Meanwhile, according to "Urinetown" scribe Greg Kotis, Attorney General John Ashcroft wants to star in a Broadway musical.
That's the premise of Kotis' new comedy "Eat the Taste," which opens Oct. 4 at the Barrow Street Theater. Previews start Sept. 20 for an open-ended run on Monday nights.
The 65-minute spoof, directed by John Clancy, features a new song by Kotis and his "Urinetown" cohort Mark Hollmann.
"Eat the Taste" is set in the future when members of the Bush cabinet are seeking new jobs. Chief among them is Ashcroft, who wants to parlay his life story and singing career into an uplifting tuner, and enlists of the help of the "Urinetown" team. Kotis and Hollmann play themselves, joined by fellow castmates Bill Coelius, Gibson Frazier, Paul Urcioli and Eva van Dok.
"Eat the Taste" is produced by Planetearth Partners and Scott Morfee, whose production of "Bug" continues perfs Tuesday-Sunday at Barrow Street.
Kudisch sketches artist
Marc Kudisch goes mad and loses an ear in Michael John La Chiusa's new musical, "The Highest Yellow," to preem at the Signature Theater in Arlington, Va. Playing Vincent Van Gogh, Kudisch joins the previously announced Jason Danieley, as the doctor, and Judy Kuhn, who plays the prostitute who receives Van Gogh's severed ear. Libretto is by John Strand. Eric Schaeffer directs the production, which runs Oct. 26-Dec. 12.
Richard Easton and Dana Ivey are set in Sheridan's "The Rivals" at Lincoln Center Theater. He plays Sir Anthony Absolute to her Mrs. Malaprop. Previews begin Nov. 26; opening night is Dec. 16. Mark Lamos directs.
Rex Smith has secured a berth in the Broadway-bound "Princesses," which runs Nov. 4-28 at Connecticut's Goodspeed Musicals. Smith plays a Hollywood star who reconnects with his teenage daughter, who performs in a school production of "The Little Princess."
He joins Matt Cavenaugh ("Urban Cowboy"), Jenny Fellner and Donna English.
The new musical is by Matthew Wilder, Bill and Sheri Steinkellner and David Zippel, who conceived the show and directs. A Broadway preem has been announced for August 2005.
