Kathleen Turner is to star in Bakersfield Mist by Stephen Sachs.
This new play, inspired by true events, has Turner play a fifty-something unemployed bartender who thinks she has bought a valuable work of art.
Multi–award winning Kathleen Turner was previously in the West End in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Credits of her Olivier and Tony award-winning co–star Ian McDiarmid include Life of Galileo and Faith Healer.
McDiarmid says of the play said "I liked the idea and comic potential of two passionately opinionated cultural opposites engaged in a life-changing battle for the soul of a great painter."
Polly Teale will direct.
Bakersfield Mist starts previewing at the Duchess Theatre on 10 May. For further information and booking visit the show's web site.
Other recent casting includes that for the UK première of Other Desert Cities.
Sinéad Cusack and Clare Higgins are to play sisters Polly Wyeth and Silda Grauman in Jon Robin Baitz’s play about family politics, love, loss and redemption at The Old Vic.
The play won the Outer Critics’ Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play, when it was first produced and went on to receive five Tony Award nominations on Broadway. Other Desert Cities was a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Other Desert Cities will be presented in-the-round; Lindsay Posner will direct. Previews start on 13 March.
For further information and booking visit the Old Vic web site.
Clapham's Landor Theatre could probably fit into the Old Vic premises several times over but it is a venue known for punching above its weight.
From Page To Stage, the Landor's season of new musical theatre, sees Kim Criswell play Ethel Merman in new musical Merman’s Apprentice which has book and lyrics by Stephen Cole and music by David Evans.
Kim Criswell's credits include Baby, Nine and The Threepenny Opera on Broadway and the title role in Annie Get Your Gun in London. The cast also features Olivia Hallett, John Guerrasio, Nigel Richards, David Burt, Elizabeth Seal (Tony Award Winner, Irma La Douce), Ted Merwood, Ben Stock, Daniel Cane, Thomas Sutcliffe, Lindsey Nicholls and Kimberley Moses.
New musicals Claus The Musical and The Return of the Soldier also receive readings as part of the season which includes a showcase of three musicals in development.
Merman’s Apprentice is on 11 and 12 February. For further information and booking visit the From Page To Stage web site.