Lend Me A Tenor on Broadway & the Music Box Theatre

Lend Me A Tenor is going to be revived on Broadway this spring and of course I’m thrilled about it. This revival has been in the works since the summer, when the producers first got in touch with me. The conversation went something like this: “Hey, Ken. It’s Matthew. The guys and I would like to produce a Broadway revival of Lend Me A Tenor with Stanley Tucci directing. We’re thinking about Tony Shaloub for Saunders. Do you have any interest?”“Well, let’s see now …”I’ve been wanting to talk about it here in the blog, but I’ve been waiting dutifully for the official announcement. Well, it’s now official, so please read the press release on the home page of this site. Party hats are welcome.Stanlely Tucci is indeed the director, and Stan and I have been casting the show for a couple of months now. We’re all crazy about the casting, as well as the creative team, and we can’t wait to go into rehearsal.Tony Shaloub is onboard (last week he finished his 8th season as Monk and my family and I were glued to the series finale); and the rest of the cast includes Anthony LaPaglia, Jennifer Laura Thompson, Mary Catherine Garrison, Jan Maxwell, Brooke Adams and Jay Klaitz. The creative team includes Ken Posner, John Lee Beatty, Martin Pakledinaz and Peter Hylenski. I’ve worked with Kenny and John Lee in the past, but everybody else is new to me – and I’m very psyched.One of the biggest thrills about the show for me is that we’ll be in The Music Box Theatre. I’m always excited by the histories of the theatres where my shows are put on, and the history of The Music Box is pretty breathtaking:It was built in 1921 by Irving Berlin and Sam Harris especially for Berlin’s Music Box Revues. Since then, it has housed the original productions of Dinner at Eight, Stage Door, The Man Who Came To Dinner, Bus Stop, Picnic and The Homecoming, to say nothing of The Male Animal (a favorite of mine since I appeared in it in high school), The Pleasure of his Company (which starred one of my favorite actor/directors of all time, Cyril Ritchard), Sleuth, Deathtrap, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Set To Music and Of Thee I Sing.So I’ll be tramping around the same stage where Noel Coward, George S. Kaufman, William Inge, Harold Pinter and George and Ira Gershwin tramped before me. Be still my heart.So please mark your calendars and please come. Performances start March 13th.