TV personality Stephen Colbert, Tony winner Anika Noni Rose and Tony nominee Martha Plimpton will join Neil Patrick Harris in the New York Philharmonic's upcoming concert presentation of Company. As previously speculated, Tony winner Patti LuPone will also be part of the show, which will run April 7 through 9 at Avery Fisher Hall, directed by Lonny Price.
LuPone will play Joanne, the sharp-tongued friend of Bobby (Harris) while Rose will portray one of Bobby's several love interests, Marta. Plimpton and Colbert will play Bobby's married friends, Sarah and Harry. Jim Walton will also star as Larry, Joanne's husband. Further casting is still to be announced.
LuPone was seen earlier this season in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. She is a Tony winner for Gypsy and Evita. Her many other Broadway credits include Sweeney Todd, Anything Goes and Noises Off.
Colbert is best known as the host of TV's The Colbert Report. He is the author of popular book I Am America (And So Can You). He recently appeared alongside his wife, Evelyn McGee-Colbert, in a reading of Harold Pinter's Betrayal in West Orange, New Jersey.
Plimpton received Tony nominations for Pal Joey and The Coast of Utopia. She has also appeared on Broadway in Top Girls, The Coast of Utopia, Shining City and Sixteen Wounded. She currently stars on TV's Raising Hope.
Rose earned a Tony Award for Caroline, Or Change. Her other Broadway credits include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Footloose. She starred in the movie musicals Dreamgirls and The Princess and the Frog.
Walton's Broadway credits include Bye, Bye Birdie, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along and 42nd Street.
Featuring music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by George Furth, Company follows a single, middle-aged New Yorker named Bobby as he observes the relationships of his married, engaged and divorced friends. The show first opened on Broadway on April 26, 1970 and earned a Tony Award for Best Musical. The 2006 revival starring Raul Esparza as Bobby took home the Tony for Best Revival of a Musical.
The New York Philharmonic's staged concerts will feature a 35-piece orchestra performing Jonathan Tunick's original orchestrations, conducted by Paul Gemignani. Lonny Price and Matt Cowart are producing the evening.