Nikolai and the Others: David Cromer to direct

Lincoln Center Theater have announced that David Cromer will direct their world premiere production of Richard Nelson's Nikolai and the Others, opening at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater on 6 May 2013, following previews from 4 Apr 2012.

It's 1948 and during a spring weekend in Westport, CT. a close-knit group of Russian emigres, including choreographer George Balanchine, composer Igor Stravinsky, conductor Serge Koussevitsky, painter/set designer Sergey Sudeikin and composer Nikolai Nabokov, gather to eat, drink and talk. Nikolai and the Others reimagines, during the course of this weekend, the creation of Balanchine and Stravinsky's historic collaboration, the ballet Orpheus, and explores the interesting and controversial ways American art was funded at the outset of the Cold War.

The cast and design team will be announced at a later date.

Nikolai and the Others was commissioned by Lincoln Center Theater.

Richard Nelson's plays include 'Some Americans Abroad' and 'Two Shakespearean Actors' (both plays produced by Lincoln Center Theater, the latter receiving a Tony Award nomination for Best Play), 'The General From America,' 'Franny's Way,' 'Madame Melville,' 'Goodnight Children Everywhere,' 'New England,' 'Life Sentences,' 'Principia Scriptoriae,' 'The Vienna Notes' and 'Conjuring An Event.' He wrote the book and lyrics and directed the musical 'My Life with Albertine,' wrote the book for the musical 'Chess,' and wrote the book, conceived and adapted the lyrics and directed the musical 'The Dead,' winning a Tony Award for his book.

David Cromer directed LCT's production of 'When the Rain Stops Falling,' for which he won a Lucille Lortel Award for Best Direction. His other credits include the recent Broadway productions of 'The House of Blue Leaves' and 'Brighton Beach Memoirs.' Off-Broadway credits include, 'Our Town,' 'Adding Machine, the musical' (Lortel and Obie Awards for Best Direction for both) and 'Orson's Shadow' and the current Tribes playing at the Barrow Street Theater.