Nice Work If You Can Get It postpones Boston engagement, still aims for Broadway in 2009

The new musical comedy, Nice Work If You Can Get It, which is to star Harry Connick, Jr., as cancelled its pre-Broadway engagement at Boston's Colonial Theatre, where it was to have played from 16 Dec 2008 - 11 Jan 2009.

The Boston Globe reports that the postponement has been caused by Kathleen Marshall, who was to direct and choreograph the production, withdrawing from the production.

Nice Work If You Can Get It was set to reunite Harry Connick, Jr. and director/choreograph Kathleen Marshall, who received praise for their 2006 revival of "The Pajama Game."

A letter sent to subscribers of Boston's Colonial Theatre from Broadway Across America-Boston president Drew Murphy, told subscribers that the search was on for a new director and that new dates would be announced.

There has been no official announcemet, but it is expected that Nice Work If You Can Get It's Broadway opening, which was set for Spring 2009, will still go ahead.

Harry Connick, Jr. will star as a Long Island playboy in this new musical comedy filled with bootleggers, golddiggers, and some of the greatest songs from the legendary Gershwin hit list.

Nice Work If You Can Get It will feature scenic design by Tony Award nominee Derek McLane (The Pajama Game), costume design by two-time Tony Award winner Martin Pakledinaz (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Kiss Me Kate), lighting design by Tony Award winner Kenneth Posner (The Coast of Utopia, Wicked) and sound design by Acme Sound Partners.

Harry Connick, Jr. made his Broadway theatrical debut in 'The Pajama Game.' (2006) for which he was nominated for a Tony for Best Actor in a Musical. Connick achieved widespread success as a musician when director Rob Reiner asked him to contribute the score to his 1989 smash When Harry Met Sally, leading to Connick�s first multi-platinum album (also his first big band recording.) At the same time, Connick has built a successful film career, appearing both on screen and soundtracks. After making his acting debut in Memphis Belle in 1990, he has also been seen in Little Man Tate, Copycat, Independence Day, Excess Baggage, Hope Floats, Life Without Dick, and John Grisham�s Micky. As a television performer, Connick has starred in two holiday specials built around his best selling holiday albums �When My Heart Finds Christmas� (CBS) and �Harry for the Holidays� (NBC), and two Great Performances/PBS concert specials �Swingin� Out Live� and �Harry Connick, Jr.: Only You In Concert� for which he won a 2004 Emmy. In addition, he starred opposite Glenn Close in the ABC TV adaptation of the musical �South Pacific� and played the recurring role of Dr. Leo Markus on the NBC hit series �Will & Grace.�

Joe DiPietro (Book) Broadway: 'All Shook Up.' Off-Broadway: 'I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change' and 'The Thing About Men '(both with composer Jimmy Roberts), 'Over the River and Through the Woods.'. He has also written new books to Rodgers & Hammerstein's Allegro (Signature Theatre) and Rodgers & Hart's Babes in Arms (Goodspeed Musicals).

George Gershwin (Music) was born on 26 Sep 1898. In 1919, theatregoers heard his first full Broadway score (La, La Lucille) and Al Jolson popularized "Swanee" with lyrics by Irving Caesar, his first big song hit. In 1924, George composed 'Rhapsody in Blue,' the same year he formed the songwriting partnership with his older brother, Ira. By the mid-thirties, as America's premier composer, he had written the 'Concerto in F,' 'An American in Paris' and the 'Second Rhapsody.' 1935 saw the debut of 'Porgy and Bess,' written with DuBose Heyward and Ira. In his last year George wrote the scores to three films: 'Shall We Dance, ''A Damsel in Distress' and 'Goldwyn Follies.' He died of a brain tumor on 11 Jul 1937 at the age of 38.

Ira Gershwin (Lyrics) (1896-1983), the first songwriter to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize (Of Thee I Sing), wrote lyrics for the scores to more than 40 stage and screen musicals. He received three Academy Award nominations. Although he wrote with many illustrious colleagues, the collaboration with his brother George (climaxing in the opera Porgy and Bess), is fixed in America's cultural consciousness as representing the sounds and style of the Jazz Age.