(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- George Street Playhouse presents Ibsen's Ghost by Charles Busch from January 16 through February 4, 2024. Based on a few irrefutable facts, the play tells a tall (and hilarious) tale of the legendary Norwegian playwright's wife Suzannah the week after the great man's state funeral. The production is directed by Carl Andress.
A fierce keeper of the flame, Suzannah is confronted with a series of predicaments: her husband's long lost illegitimate son, his former protegee peddling a libelous diary and an enigmatic rodent exterminator known as the Rat Wife. This is the play Ibsen never wrote but with more laughs and a happy ending.
The cast includes Charles Busch as Suzannah Thoresen Ibsen, Thomas Gibson (“Dharma & Greg”) as Wolf Dahlquist, Jen Cody (Shrek the Musical) as Gerda, Christopher Borg (The Confession of Lily Dare) as George Elstad/The Rat Wife, Tony Award winner Judy Kaye (Diana: The Musical) as Magdalene Kragh Thoresen, and Jennifer Van Dyck (Hedda Gabler) as Hanna Solberg. Kate Hampton (The Rat Trap) will serve as an understudy for Susannah Thoresen Ibsen.
Ibsen's Ghost will feature set design by Shoko Kambara (GSP’s Her Portmanteau; Little Girl Blue; Midwives), costume design by Gregory Gale (Fairycakes; Rock of Ages), lighting design by Ken Billington (New York, New York; Gettin’ the Band Back Together), sound design by Jill BC Du Boff (Mother Play; Summer, 1976) and Ien De Nio (Cost of Living; Endlings), and wig design by Bobbie Zlotnik (The Great Gatsby: The Immersive Show; Squirrel Screams). Avery Trunko (DIG) is the Production Stage Manager. Casting is by McCorkle Casting.
“My longtime collaborator/director Carl Andress and I are delighted to work with David Saint and premiere my new play at this distinguished theater,” said Busch. “If Henrik Ibsen were alive, I have no doubt he'd be submitting his latest work to the George Street Playhouse.”
Performances take place in the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center. Tickets are available for purchase online.
Under the leadership of Artistic Director David Saint since 1997, George Street Playhouse produces groundbreaking new works, inspiring productions of the classics, and hit Broadway plays and musicals that speak to the heart and mind, with an unwavering commitment to producing new work. As New Brunswick’s first producing theatre, George Street Playhouse became the cornerstone of the revitalization of the City’s arts and cultural landscape. With its 47-year history of producing nationally renowned theatre, the Playhouse continues to fill a unique theatre and arts education role in the city, state and greater metropolitan region.
Beginning with the 2019-20 Season, George Street Playhouse moved to the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center in downtown New Brunswick. Featuring two state-of-the-art theatres -- The Arthur Laurents Theater with 253 seats and The Elizabeth Ross Johnson Theater which seats 465-- and myriad amenities, the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center marks a new era in the esteemed history of George Street Playhouse.
Founded by Eric Krebs, George Street Playhouse, originally located in an abandoned supermarket on the corner of George and Albany Streets, was the first professional theatre in New Brunswick. In 1984, the Playhouse moved to a renovated YMCA on Livingston Avenue, and in 2017 took temporary residence in the former Agricultural Museum at Rutgers University during construction of its new home.
The Playhouse has been well represented by numerous productions both on and off-Broadway. In 2018, George Street Playhouse was represented on Broadway with Gettin’ the Band Back Together which premiered on the Playhouse mainstage in 2013. American Son, produced by George Street Playhouse in 2017, opened on Broadway in 2018 starring Kerry Washington and Stephen Pasquale, and appeared on Netflix in 2019. Other productions include the Outer Critics’ Circle Best Musical Award-winner The Toxic Avenger. In 2015, It Shoulda Been You opened on Broadway and Joe DiPietro’s Clever Little Lies opened off-Broadway. Both shows received their premieres at the Playhouse. Others include the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Drama League nominated production of The Spitfire Grill; and the Broadway hit and Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning play Proof by David Auburn, which was developed at the Playhouse during the 1999 Next Stage Series of new plays.
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