Anyone Can Whistle: Donna Murphy joins cast

Tony Award winner Donna Murphy will join Sutton Foster in Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents' Anyone Can Whistle in the final New York City Center Encores! production of the 2009-2010 season, playing for five performances from 8 - 11 Apr 2010, diretced by Casey Nicholaw.

Murphy will play 'Mayor Cora Hoover Hooper,' the role originated by Angela Lansbury when the show premiered on Broadway in 1964. As previously announced Sutton Foster will play 'Nurse Fay Apple,' the role originated by Lee Remick.

Donna Murphy won Tony Awards for her performances as 'Fosca' in Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's 'Passion' and 'Anna' in 'The King and I.' She was nominated for Tony Awards for 'Lovemusik' and 'Wonderful Town,' a performance she originated in the City Center Encores! production. Her Broadway credits include 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood,' 'The Human Comedy' and 'They're Playing Our Song,' and she was seen off-Broadway in 'Twelve Dreams,' 'Hello Again,' 'Song of Singapore' and 'Privates on Parade.'

Anyone Can Whistle: Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents' 1964 experimental satire of any and every target on the American cultural scene of the moment - conformity, psychology, race relations, greed, religion and politics closed after a brief run, becoming an instant legend that has grown over the years as Sondheim's reputation has soared.

Anyone Can Whistle is set in an imaginary town that has gone bankrupt, it focuses on the unpopular, manipulative and corrupt mayoress, Cora Hoover Hooper and the practical but idealistic nurse, Fay Apple. Mayoress Cora Hoover Hooper together with her political cronies fakes a miracle—water flowing from a rock—that they think will attract tourist dollars ("Miracle Song"). They find themselves challenged by skeptical Fay Apple, a nurse at the local sanitarium, the "Cookie Jar", who intends to use her patients to disprove the claim.

Anyone Can Whistle opened on 4 Apr 1964 at the Majestic Theatre, starring Angela Lansbury, Lee Remick and Harry Guardino, directed by Arthur Laurents, and ran for 12 previews and 9 regular performances.