(PRINCETON, NJ) -- A young Classics professor puts her career—and her love life—in peril, and calls on the gods of Ancient Greece to save her. Things don’t go according to plan when the gods who show up are The Gods of Comedy! Thus begins the latest tour-de-force by comic genius Ken Ludwig, the two-time Olivier Award-winning playwright who penned Lend Me a Tenor, Moon over Buffalo, and many other tales beloved by theatergoers around the world. The Gods of Comedy is directed by Amanda Dehnert (Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery at McCarter) and runs March 12 – 31 in the Matthews Theatre. Tickets start at $25. The play is produced in association with The Old Globe.
The cast consists of seven artists making their McCarter debuts, including Jessie Cannizzaro (Puffs at New World Stages); Steffanie Leigh (the title role in Broadway’s Mary Poppins); Jevon McFerrin (Hamilton on Broadway, Smokey Robinson in Motown on Broadway); Keira Naughton (Broadway’s The Rivals, Three Sisters); Brad Oscar (numerous Broadway credits including Tony Award® nominations for Something Rotten! and The Producers); George Psomas (Broadway’s South Pacific and Fiddler on the Roof); and Shay Vawn (soot and spit at The New Ohio Theatre).
McCarter Artistic Director Emily Mann said “It has been one of the great joys of my career to produce four world premieres by Ken in the past five seasons. Each previous work was a joy to create, and The Gods of Comedy will be no different. It is Ken at his very best—combining wit, theatricality, delight, and scholarship into a piece that at its heart is simply great fun.”
Playwright Ken Ludwig added “McCarter has become my artistic home, and I love coming back to this magical place. To work hand in hand with a theatre of this caliber has been one of highlights of my career. And of course, there is no one else like Emily Mann, it’s a privilege to work with her. The Gods of Comedy is a story about making your life an adventure, and therefore very near to my heart."
Ludwig is a two-time Olivier Award-winning playwright who has written over 26 plays and musicals, including six shows on Broadway and 7 in London's West End. Lend Me a Tenor won two Tony Awards® and was called "one of the classic comedies of the 20th century” by The Washington Post. Other awards include the Helen Hayes Award and the Edgar Award for Best Mystery of the Year. His Broadway plays have starred Alec Baldwin, Carol Burnett, Tony Shalhoub, Lynn Redgrave, and Kristin Bell. His book How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare won the Falstaff Award for Best Shakespeare Book of the Year. His best known works include Crazy for You (5 years on Broadway, Tony® and Olivier Awards for Best Musical); Moon Over Buffalo; Baskerville; Sherwood; and a stage version of Murder on the Orient Express written expressly at the request of the Agatha Christie Estate. He holds degrees from Harvard, where he studied music with Leonard Bernstein, and Cambridge University. His work has been performed in over 30 countries in more than 20 languages, and is produced somewhere in the United States every night of the year. The Gods of Comedy is the fourth premiere of Mr. Ludwig’s at McCarter following Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, A Comedy of Tenors, and his thrilling adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express.
The design team includes a mix of new and returning McCarter artists including Drama Desk and Lortel Award nominated scenic designer Jason Sherwood (recently: Rent the musical, Live on Fox!); costume designer Linda Roethke (Richard III at The Public); lighting designer Brian Gale (dozens of theater credits, 24 years with The Walt Disney Company); sound designer Darron L West (McCarter’s Murder on the Orient Express); wig designer Carissa Thorlakson (McCarter’s A Christmas Carol); and illusion designer Jim Steinmeyer (Into the Woods, Beauty and the Beast on Broadway).
McCarter Theatre Center is located at 91 University Place in Princeton, New Jersey.
