The very busy Marc Kudisch has yet another exciting starring role lined up: He will play Darryl Van Horne in the American premiere of The Witches of Eastwick at the Signature Theatre of Arlington Virginia June 15-July 15. The production will be directed by Signature artistic director Eric Schaeffer, who staged the London premiere of the musical in 2000, starring Ian McShane, Lucie Arnaz, Maria Friedman and Joanna Riding. Casting of the women's roles in the Signature production has not yet been announced, although a theater spokesperson says that two of the three have been cast.
The Witches of Eastwick features a book and lyrics by John Dempsey and music by Dana P. Rowe and was based on the novel by John Updike and the 1987 Warner Bros. feature film. Dempsey, Rowe and Schaeffer previously collaborated on The Fix. The plot revolves around three unhappy women in the tiny New England town of Eastwick, RI, who innocently plot and conjure for their perfect man over a heady brew of brownies and weak martinis. When their longings are made flesh in the arrival of one Darryl Van Horne, all hell breaks loose quite literally.
Kudisch is currently co-starring with Kristin Chenoweth and Brian d'Arcy James in the Broadway revival of The Apple Tree and will play the leading role of the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance at New York City Opera in March. Kudisch recently wrote a First Person essay on his experience in The Apple Tree for Broadway.com. He received Tony Award nominations for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Thoroughly Modern Millie and starred in the Broadway productions of Assassins, Bells Are Ringing, The Wild Party, High Society, The Scarlet Pimpernel and Beauty and the Beast. He previously appeared at Signature as Vincent van Gogh in the world premiere of Michael John LaChiusa's The Highest Yellow.
