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originally published: 03/21/2023 

(MILLBURN, NJ) -- Paper Mill Playhouse (Mark S. Hoebee, Producing Artistic Director; Michael Stotts, Executive Director), recipient of the 2016 Regional Theatre Tony Award, has announced the cast and creative team for Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express by Ken Ludwig, directed by Casey Hushion (PMP: Clue, A Jolly Holiday, Ogunquit Playhouse: Mystic Pizza). The show will begin performances at Paper Mill Playhouse on Wednesday, April 19, and play through Sunday, May 14, 2023. Opening night is set for Sunday, April 23, 2023.

The Orient Express is about to go off the rails! With a train full of suspects and an alibi for each one, it’s the perfect mystery for detective Hercule Poirot, n’est-ce pas? Adapted from Agatha Christie’s masterpiece by two-time Tony-nominated playwright Ken Ludwig (Broadway: Lend Me a Tenor, Crazy for You), Murder on the Orient Express is a funny, fast-paced thrill ride.

The production will star Leanne Antonio (Off-Broadway: Black No More; Broadway: The Lion King) as Mary Debenham, Gisela Chípe (Guthrie Theater: Indecent, “Manifest”) as Countess Andrenyi, Anthony Cochrane (Broadway: War Horse; Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps) as Hercule Poirot, Donna English (PMP: Clue, Broadway: Lend Me a Tenor) as Princess Dragomiroff, Stephanie Gibson (PMP: Happy Days, Broadway: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) as Greta Ohlsson, Alex Mandell (PMP: Clue, Broadway: Hand to God) as Hector MacQueen, Graham Stevens (PMP: Clue, Broadway: Beetlejuice) as Michel/Headwaiter, Mark Jude Sullivan (Broadway: To Be or Not To Be, Pasadena Playhouse: Casa Valentina) as Col. Arbuthnot/Samuel Ratchett, Evan Zes (Broadway: The Kite Runner, Soho Playhouse: Rent Control) as Monsieur Bouc, and Tony Award winner Karen Ziemba (PMP: Guys and Dolls, Broadway: Curtains, Contact) as Helen Hubbard. Emily Harvey, Kelsey Rainwater, Alex Syiek, and Price Waldman serve as understudies.

Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express features scenic design by Beowulf Boritt (PMP: The Wanderer, A Bronx Tale The Musical, Broadway: New York, New York; The Piano Lesson), scenic coordination by Nate Bertone (Ogunquit Playhouse: Mystic Pizza; TPAC: May We All) and Jessica Alexandra Cancino (Pip’s Island; City Lyric Opera: Uncovered), costume design by Mariah Hale (PMP: A Bronx Tale The Musical, Broadway: Smokey Joe’s Cafe), lighting design by Charlie Morrison (PMP: On Your Feet!, Sister Act, NY: Dr Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas), sound design by Matt Kraus (PMP: Chasing Rainbows, Broadway: Liza’s at the Palace…!), hair & wig design by Carissa Thorlakson (New York City Center: Grand Hotel, McCarter Theatre: A Christmas Carol), and projection design by Jason Lee Courson (PMP: Half Time, Broadway: Reuben & Clay). The Production Stage Manager is Andrea Cibelli (PMP: Hercules, Cinderella). Casting is by JZ Casting (PMP: Clue).

Paper Mill Playhouse offers its audiences the opportunity to enhance their theater experience with behind-the-scenes views of mainstage productions, including a Q&A with the cast held live in the theater after the matinee on Saturday, May 6, 2023. Paper Mill Prologues and The Director’s Viewpoint will be available to everyone on-demand in the Paper Mill Playhouse mobile app.

 

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Tickets starting at $35 may be purchased by calling 973.376.4343, at the Paper Mill Playhouse Box Office at 22 Brookside Drive in Millburn, or online at papermill.org.  Groups of 10 or more may receive up to an up to 30% discount on tickets and should call 973.376.4343. Students may purchase $20 tickets. Patrons under 30 years old may purchase tickets for $30 to any performance.

Paper Mill Playhouse offers award-winning access programs and services, including audio-described performances on Saturday, May 6, 2023 at 1:30pm and Sunday, May 7, 2023 at 1:30pm (sensory seminars for the blind are held at noon), as well as an open-captioned and ASL-interpreted performance on Sunday, May 7, 2023 at 7:00pm. Braille and large-print programs and assistive listening devices available.

Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French Inc.

Programs, dates, and artists are subject to change.

Ken Ludwig (Playwright) has had six shows on Broadway and seven in London’s West End. His twenty-eight plays and musicals have been performed in more than thirty countries in over twenty languages and are produced throughout the United States every night of the year. Lend Me a Tenor won two Tony Awards. Crazy for You was on Broadway for five years and won the Tony and Olivier awards for best musical. Ludwig has won the Edgar Award for Best Mystery of the Year, two Laurence Olivier Awards, two Helen Hayes Awards, and Walnut Street Theatre’s Edwin Forrest Award. His stage version of Murder on the Orient Express was written expressly at the request of the Agatha Christie Estate, and his latest play, Dear Jack, Dear Louise, won the 2020 Charles MacArthur Award and is optioned for Broadway.

Paper Mill Playhouse, recipient of the 2016 Regional Theatre Tony Award, is a nationally renowned not-for-profit theater under the direction of Mark S. Hoebee (Producing Artistic Director) and Michael Stotts (Executive Director). A beloved New Jersey arts institution since 1938, Paper Mill creates and produces groundbreaking new musicals and reimagined classics. Several productions have gone on to Broadway and launched national tours, including Disney’s Newsies, Les Misérables, Honeymoon in Vegas, A Bronx Tale, and Bandstand. The theater is also the home to an award-winning center for musical theater education and artist training, with outreach programs that impact thousands of students each year. As one of the nation’s premier musical theaters, Paper Mill fosters a creative environment to advance the art form, educate students, develop future theater lovers, nurture inclusion, and provide access for all. We acknowledge that our theater stands on the traditional land of the Lenni-Lenape, and we honor the Indigenous people who inhabited it for thousands of years before European settlers arrived. Paper Mill Playhouse programs are made possible, in part, by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Paper Mill Playhouse is a member of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, the Council of Stock Theatres, and the New Jersey Theatre Alliance.