Steve On Broadway (SOB)

San Diego Opening Is Catered Affair

San Diego Opening Is Catered Affair

While significant media coverage has centered on the two Broadway-bound musicals due to open this fall (Young Frankenstein and The Little Mermaid), A Catered Affair has been quietly unfolding in San Diego. Tonight, the world premiere of this other film-based tuner opens at the city's Old Globe Theatre.

A Catered Affair finds its roots in the Paddy Chayefsky teleplay for the 1955 broadcast of "The Philco Television Playhouse" (starring Pat Henning, Thelma Ritter and J. Pat O'Malley) and subsequent 1956 feature film written by Chayefsky and Gore Vidal (starring Bette Davis, Ernest Borgnine, Debbie Reynolds, Rod Taylor and Barry Fitzgerald).

The new musical version is helmed by John Doyle -- minus his earlier conceit of having actors double as musicians -- and includes a book by Harvey Fierstein and music by John Bucchino. The only double duty on display comes from Fierstein via his starring role as Uncle Winston. Other cast members include Faith Prince, Tom Wopat, Matt Cavenaugh and Leslie Kritzer.

Set in the 1950s, A Catered Affair centers on how "Bronx family ties are strained when a couple decides to give their daughter the grand wedding they never had." Self-described as "stunning...funny, heartwarming and uplifting for audiences of all ages," the musical is already accomplishing the kind of positive buzz via New York Post's Michael Riedel that all other comers could only hope for: "Possible sleeper here for the Tony Awards, especially if the industry sours on Brooks' $450 tickets for Young Frankenstein."

While I won't be able to travel to San Diego to catch the world premiere running through October 28, I'm looking forward to feasting on Fierstein's latest feat on Broadway, due at the Walter Kerr Theatre on March 25.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Click here for tickets.
Related Stories:
Which Upcoming Broadway Musicals Will You See? (June 15, 2007)
Fierstein To Musicalize Bette Davis' Fave Flick (March 21, 2007)

Labels: A Catered Affair, Bette Davis, Broadway, Buzz, Faith Prince, Film, Harvey Fierstein, John Doyle, Leslie Kritzer, Matt Cavenaugh, Michael Riedel, Musical, San Diego, Television, Tom Wopat

posted by Steve On Broadway (SOB) @ Sunday, September 30, 2007