Love, Loss and What I Wore: further cast announced

Love, Loss and What I Wore: further cast announced Teen Choice Award-winner Alexis Bledel ("Gilmore Girls"), Tony Award nominees Brenda Braxton (Chicago), Orfeh (Legally Blonde) and Daphne Rubin-Vega (RENT), along with Barbara Rhoades (The Goodbye Girl) and Annie Stark will join upcoming NYC casts of Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron's Love, Loss, And What I Wore, which is now in its second year at the Westside Theatre. Braxton completes the December cast of Love, Loss, And What I Wore, joining the previously announced Didi Conn (Grease), Kate Flannery ("The Office"), Loretta Swit ("MASH") and Mary Testa (Xanadu), performing 8 Dec 2010 - 9 Jan 2011. They replace the show's current cast which stars Barbara Feldon, Tovah Feldshuh, Aisha de Haas and Ashley Austin Morris. Bledel joins Pauletta Washington ("The Parkers"), Anita Gillette ("30 Rock") and returning cast member Judy Gold (25 Questions for a Jewish Mother) in the January cast (12 Jan - 13 Feb 2011), with an additional cast member to be announced. Orfeh and Rhoades will join Sabrina Le Beauf in the February cast (16 Feb - 19 Mar 2011) and Rubin-Vega and Stark both join the March cast, performing 23 Mar - 24 Apr 2011. Additional winter and spring casting is forthcoming. The comedy, an intimate collection of stories by Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron, and directed by Karen Carpenter, opened at the Westside Theatre on 1 Oct 2009, following previews from 21 Sep, for what was initially scheduled to be a twelve week engagement that was originally scheduled to close on 13 Dec 2009, but is now booking through to 9 Jan 2011. Love, Loss, And What I Wore is a collection of vignettes and monologues based on the best-selling book by Ilene Beckerman, as well as on the recollections of the Ephrons' friends. "'The Vagina Monologues' without the vaginas," is how the Ephrons describe this theatrical event. The show opened to mostly good reviews: The only thing wrong with this play is the title... The rest is fabulous. (newyorktheatreguide.com); A kin to a warm estrogen bath (NY Times); By turns funny, poignant, and occasionally rueful (AP); A bittersweet meditation on the joys and tribulations of women's lives (Variety). The original cast featured Samantha Bee, Tyne Daly, Katie Finneran, Natasha Lyonne and Rosie O'Donnell. The creative team features sets by Jo Winiarski, costumes by Jessica Jahn, lighting by Jeff Croiter and sound by Walter Trarbach. A portion of the production's proceeds will benefit Dress for Success, a charity that provides work clothing and job support for low-income women. Audience members will be invited to donate their gently-used purses and other accessories in the theatre lobby.