On The Town Revival Finds Its Leading Women

Principal female casting has been announced for the Broadway revival of On The Town which will begin previews at the Lyric Theatre on 20 September 2014, with an official opening on 16 October 2014.

Megan Fairchild, Alysha Umphress and Elizabeth Stanley will join the previously announced Tony Yazbeck, Jay Armstrong Johnson and Clyde Alves in the lead roles in John Rando's revival of the classic Broadway musical. Fairchild, a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, will make her Broadway debut playing 'Ivy Smith'. Umphress will play 'Hildy' and Stanley will play 'Claire', both reprising their performances from last summer's acclaimed Barrington Stage production.

The production was originally seen at City Center Encores in 2008. As well as direction by John Rando it features choreography by Joshua Bergasse. It will feature scenic design by Beowulf Boritt lighting design by Jason Lyons, costume design by Jess Goldstein and sound design by Kai Harada. It is produced on Broadway by Howard & Janet Kagan.

On The Town grew out of Jerome Robbins ballet 'Fancy Free', which followed three sailors on leave in New York. The musical opened at Broadway at the Adelphi Theater in 1944, directed by George Abbott, and played through February 2, 1946 for a total of 462 performances, transferring to the 44th Street Theatre and Martin Beck Theatre.

The classic score features the standards "New York, New York," "I Can Cook Too," "Lonely Town," and "Some Other Time" and will be featured in this production with their original orchestrations, performed by what will be the largest orchestra on Broadway, with 28 musicians led by musical director James Moore.

Megan Fairchild (Ivy Smith) is a principal dancer with New York City Ballet. She has danced featured roles in George Balanchine's 'Allegro Brillante', 'Apollo' (Calliope), 'Ballo della Regina', 'Chaconne', 'Coppélia' (Swanilda), 'Danses Concertantes' and George Balanchine's 'The Nutcracker'(Sugarplum Fairy, Dewdrop, Marzipan, and Dolls), amongst many others. She is currently a Teaching Fellow with the School of American Ballet, the official school of New York City Ballet. Fairchild was the 2001 recipient of the Mae L. Wien Award.

Alysha Umphress (Hildy) has starred on Broadway in 'American Idiot', 'On a Clear Day You can See Forever', 'Priscilla Queen of the Desert', and 'Bring it On!'. Her off-Broadway credits include 'Make Me a Song' (The Music of William Finn).

Elizabeth Stanley (Claire) returns to the New York stage having last played Gussie in the City Center Encores! production of 'Merrily We Roll Along' directed by James Lapine. On Broadway she originated the roles of Dyanne in 'Million Dollar Quartet', Allison in 'Cry-Baby', April in the Tony Award-winning revival of 'Company', and starred as Kira in the First National Tour of 'Xanadu'.

- by Dom O'Hanlon