Nikolai and the Others: initial casting announced

Lincoln Center Theater have announced the initial casting for their upcoming world premiere production of Richard Nelson's Nikolai and the Others, directed by David Cromer, opening at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater on 06 May 2013, following previews from 04 Apr 2013, and closing on 16 Jun 2013.

Featured in the 18-member cast are Betsy Aidem, Blair Brown, Michael Cerveris, Anthony Cochrane, Lauren Culpepper, Alvin Epstein, Kathryn Erbe, John Glover, Jennifer B. Grace, Katie Kreisler, Stephen Kunken, Haviland Morris, Dale Place, John Procaccino, Garth Saxe and Alan Schmuckler.

It's 1948 and during a spring weekend in Westport, CT a close-knit group of Russian emigres, including choreographer George Balanchine (Michael Cerveris), composer Igor Stravinsky (John Glover), conductor Serge Koussevitsky (Dale Place), painter/set designer Sergey Sudeikin (Alvin Epstein) and composer Nikolai Nabokov (Stephen Kunken), gather to eat, drink and talk.

In Nikolai and the Othersplaywright Richard Nelson 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. Interspersed throughout the action of the play will be moments of Balanchine's original Orpheus choreography.

The play will have sets by Marsha Ginsberg, costumes by Jane Greenwood, lighting by Ken Billington, sound by Daniel Kluger, choreography by George Balanchine and ballet staging by Rosemary Dunleavy. Jeff Edwards is Ballet Master.

Bios:

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), 'Orson's Shadow,' 'Tribes' and 'Really Rosie.'

Betsy Aidem LCT: 'Road.' Off-Broadway: 'Steel Magnolias,' 'A Lie of the Mind,' 'Balm in Gilead' and productions at the Atlantic, Vineyard, 2nd Stage, Playwrights Horizons, 2007 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence of Performance.

Blair Brown LCT: 'The Clean House' and 'Arcadia.' Broadway: 'Copenhagen' (Tony Award), James Joyce's 'The Dead,' 'Cabaret,' 'The Secret Rapture' and 'Threepenny Opera.' Off-Broadway: 'Humble Boy' and 'The Comedy of Errors.'

Michael Cerveris (George Balanchine) LCT: 'In The Next Room, or the vibrator play' and 'Cymbeline.' Broadway: 'Evita' (Tony nomination), 'Hedda Gabler,' 'LoveMusik' (Tony nomination), 'Sweeney Todd' (Tony nomination), 'Assassins' (Tony Award), 'Titanic,' 'Tommy' (Tony nomination). Off-Broadway: 'Road Show,' 'King Lear,' 'Fifth of July and' 'Hedwig & The Angry Inch.'

Anthony Cochrane LCT: 'War Horse,' 'The Coast of Utopia' and 'Cymbeline.' Off-Broadway: 12 years and 18 productions with Aquila Theatre, 'Dense Terrain' (BAM).

Lauren Culpepper Off-Broadway: 'Really Really' and 'I Capture The Castle.'

Alvin Epstein (Sergey Sudeikin) Former Artistic Director of the Guthrie Theater and Associate Director of Yale Repertory Theater. Broadway: 'King Lear,' 'The Threepenny Opera' and 'A Kurt Weill Cabaret.' Off-Broadway: 'Hamlet' (Theater for a New City), 'Tuesdays With Morrie,' 'The Madwoman of Chaillot,' the title role in 'King Lear,' 'Dynamite Tonight' (Obie Award), 'Howard Katz,' 'The Cherry Orchard,' Sam Mendes' Bridge Project at BAM and internationally.

Kathryn Erbe Broadway: 'A Month in the Country,' 'Speed of Darkness' (Tony Award nomination) and 'The Grapes of Wrath.' Off-Broadway: 'Yosemite,' 'Down the Shore' and 'The My House Play.'

John Glover (Igor Stravinsky) Broadway: 'Death of a Salesman,' 'The Royal Family,' 'Waiting for Godot' (Tony Award nomination), 'The Drowsy Chaperone,' 'Love! Valour! Compassion!' and 'Tartuffe.' Off-Broadway: 'The Marriage of Bette & Boo,' 'The Paris Letter,' 'The Winter's Tale,' 'Sorrows and Rejoicings' and 'Oblivion Postponed.'

Jennifer B. Grace Off-Broadway: 'Emily in Our Town'.

Katie Kreisler Broadway: 'The House of Blue Leaves' and 'Noises Off.' Off-Broadway: 'Our House,' 'I'm in Love With Your Wife' and 'Psych.'

Stephen Kunken (Nikolai Nabokov) LCT: 'Rock n' Roll.' Broadway: 'The Columnist,' 'High, Enron' (Tony Award nomination), 'Frost/Nixon,' 'Festen' and 'Proof.' Off-Broadway: 'RX,' 'Lost in the Stars,' 'Our Town,' 'Our House,' 'Arrangements,' 'The Story,' 'A Dybbuk' and 'Henry VIII.'

Haviland Morris LCT: 'Ring 'Round the Moon' and 'Arcadia.' Broadway: 'Tartuffe.' Off-Broadway: 'Rodney's Wife,' 'The Uneasy Chair,' 'Uncommon Women and Others,' 'Aristocrats' and 'The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore.'

Dale Place (Serge Koussevitsky) Off-Broadway: 'Happy Birthday,' 'Wanda June,' 'Hedda Gabler' and 'The Water Engine.'

John Procaccino LCT: 'Blood and Gifts,' 'An American Daughter' and 'The Light in the Piazza.' Broadway: 'An Enemy of the People,' 'Conversations with My Father,' 'A Thousand Clowns' and 'Art.' Off-Broadway: 'Coming of Age in Soho.'

Garth Saxe Broadway: 'The Lion King,' 'The Homecoming' and 'Heartbreak House.' Off-Broadway: 'Harper Regan,' 'The Duchess of Malfi,' 'Kimberly Akimbo,' 'Futher From the Futhers Thing,' 'The Wax' and 'The Winter's Tale.'

Alan Schmuckle is making his Off-Broadway debut.Theater credits in Chicago include 'Rent,' 'Sugar,' 'Murder for Two,' 'A Minister's Wife,' 'Merrily We Roll Along,' 'The Two Noble Kinsmen,' 'The Time of Your Life' and 'She Stoops To Conquer.'