Complete Casting Announced For Second Stage Theater’s Production of TORCH SONG

COMPLETE CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR

Second Stage Theater’s Production of

TORCH SONG

By HARVEY FIERSTEIN

Directed by MOISÉS KAUFMAN

JACK DIFALCO, WARD HORTON, ROXANNA HOPE RADJA & MICHAEL ROSEN

Join previously announced

Michael Urie and Mercedes Ruehl

* * * * * * * *

Previews Begin September 26, 2017

Opening Night October 19, 2017

At the Tony Kiser Theater

Second Stage Theater (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director, Casey Reitz, Executive Director) has announced complete casting for its upcoming production of Harvey Fierstein’s TORCH SONG, directed by Moisés Kaufman.

Joining the previously announced MICHAEL URIE as Arnold Beckoff and MERCEDES RUEHL as Ma, TORCH SONG will feature JACK DIFALCO (Marvin’s Room) as David, WARD HORTON (“Pure Genius”) as Ed, ROXANNA HOPE RADJA (Frost/Nixon) as Laurel, and MICHAEL ROSEN (On the Town) as Alan.

TORCH SONG will begin previews September 26, 2017 at the Tony Kiser Theater (305 West 43rd street) and will officially open on October 19, 2017.

Orchestra tickets for TORCH SONG start at $79 and Box Balcony start at $59. Subscriptions are also available, starting at $345, inclusive of all five productions in the 2017/18 season.

TORCH SONG will feature scenic design by David Zinn; costume design by Clint Ramos; lighting design by David Lander; and sound design by Fitz Patton.

ABOUT TORCH SONG

It’s 1979 in New York City and Arnold Beckoff is on a quest for love, purpose and family. He’s fierce in drag and fearless in crisis, and he won’t stop until he achieves the life he desires. Now, Arnold is back…and he’s here to sing you a torch song. The Tony Award®-winning play that forever changed the trajectory of Broadway returns for a new generation.

Torch Song Trilogy opened on Broadway at the Little Theater (now the Hayes Theater) on June 10, 1982, where it enjoyed a groundbreaking run, earning Tony Awards for Best Play and Best Actor in a Play (Mr. Fierstein) and running for 1,222 performances, closing on May 19, 1985. The play has been produced extensively across the country and around the world, including productions in London’s West End and Menier Chocolate Factory. It was also turned into a 1988 film, starring Mr. Fierstein, Matthew Broderick, and Anne Bancroft, directed by Paul Bogart. Prior to its move to Broadway, Torch Song Trilogy ran off-Broadway at the Richard Allen Center, produced by The Glines, and also at La Mama and The Actors Playhouse.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

JACK DIFALCO (David) Theatre: Marvin’s Room (Roundabout Theatre Company), Yen (Manhattan Class Co.), Mercury Fur (The New Group), Lord of The Flies (Denver Center), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Proscenium Theatre). Film: One Percent More Humid (Tribeca Film Festival 2017), Bully, I Can, I Will, I Did (Asian Pacific Film Festival 2017), Rocket Man, Naranja, The Hard Sell, Aoife O’Donovan’s Music Video Beekeeper. Television: The OA, Blue Bloods. Training: SUNY Purchase Workshop 2013, Yorktown Stage Company, Trinity Players. Instagram: @jackdifalco.

WARD HORTON (Ed) is best known for playing Dr. Scott Strauss in the CBS drama, “Pure Genius,” was the male lead in the horror film Annabelle, which grossed over $245 million worldwide, and is a spin-off of the horror hit The Conjuring. On the big screen, Horton’s additional film credits include Midnighters (which recently premiered at the LA Film Festival in August 2017), Bakery in Brooklyn, Alto, Marcy, The Wolf of Wall Street, I Hate Valentine’s Day, Veronica Decided to Die, The Might Macs, We Fight to be Free, Falling for Grace, The Good Shepherd, Christmas Wish List, Four Eyed Monsters, Nail Polish, Dress Rehearsal, and Loverboy. On the small screen, Ward has appeared in the following television shows: “Royal Pains,” “One Life to Live,” “White Collar,” “Body of Proof,” “CSI: Miami,” “Law & Order,” “Mercy”, “Fringe”, “Gossip Girl,” “Day Break,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Hope & Faith,” “All My Children,” and “Guiding Light.” Horton has also been involved in the theater, appearing in productions such as Brighton Beach Memoirs, The Crucible, You Can’t Take It With You, In Masks Outrageous and Austere, The Autobiography of God, Bash: Latter-Day Plays, Equus, and Lost In Yonkers.

ROXANNA HOPE RADJA (Laurel). Broadway: Frost/Nixon, After the Fall, The Women, Boeing Boeing (u/s,) and others. Off Broadway: Ruins of Civilization (Manhattan Theatre Club), Ode To Joy, Horsedreams (Rattlestick Theater), Mahida's Extra Key To Heaven (Epic Theater Co.), Princess Turandot (Blue Light Theater Co.), 1001, Arabian Night. Regional: Hedda Gabler (Hartford Stage); Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Richard III, Julius Caesar, Pericles (Shakespeare Theatre of NJ); Tartuffe, Indian Ink, Hecuba (American Conservatory Theater); Williamstown Theater Festival; Huntington Theater; Westport Country Playhouse; Colorado Shakespeare Festival and others. Film/TV: Puncture, “Elementary,” “Blue Bloods,” “Unforgettable,” “The Good Wife,” “Law and Order: SVU”, “Law and Order,” ”Law and Order: CI”, “All My Children” and others. MFA, The American Conservatory Theater.

MICHAEL ROSEN (Alan) was last seen on stage in Colman Domingo's Dot at the Vineyard Theatre directed by Susan Stroman and has appeared on Broadway in On the Town and as Chino in West Side Story. His other theater credits include Vito in Do I Hear a Waltz? directed by Evan Cabnet at City Center Encores!, Somewhere starring opposite Tony Award Winner Priscilla Lopez at Hartford Stage for which he received a nomination for Best Actor at the 2014 Connecticut Critics Circle Awards, and Nikolai and the Others directed by David Cromer at Lincoln Center Theater. His on screen credits include Jimmy in Looking: The Movie on HBO, Dating My Mother, “Sinatra: Voice for a Century – Live from Lincoln Center” on PBS, “Taxi Brooklyn” on NBC, and The Empty Building. He was selected for the 2016 ABC Discovers: Talent Showcase in New York City.

MERCEDES RUEHL (Ma) is an award-winning stage, film and television actress. She won an Academy® Award and a Golden Globe®, as well as a Chicago Film Critics® Award and Los Angeles Film Critics® Award for her role as Anne Napolitano in Terry Gilliam’s film The Fisher King. Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers earned Ruehl Tony,® Helen Hayes, and Drama Desk® Awards. She received Tony nominations for her roles in The Shadowbox and Edward Albee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? She won Obie® Awards for Woman Before A Glass, a one-woman show about the life of actress Peggy Guggenheim, as well as Christopher Durang’s The Marriage of Bette and Boo. She was awarded The Clarence Derwent Award for creating the role of Kate in Other People’s Money, and a Drama Desk nomination for the role of Serafina opposite Anthony LaPaglia in Tennessee Williams’ The Rose Tattoo. She starred in Richard Greenberg’s The American Plan at the Manhattan Theatre Club and in the premiere of Edward Albee’s The Occupant as Louise Nevelson at The Signature Theatre. At The Old Vic in London she co-starred with Jeff Goldblum in Neil Simon’s Prisoner of Second Avenue. Most recently she revived Full Gallop, a one-woman show about Diana Vreeland at The Old Globe in San Diego. Ruehl came to popular attention with her portrayal as the gun-toting wife of a Mafia don in 1988’s Married to the Mob, which earned her a National Society of Film Critics® Award. Her other film credits include Big opposite Tom Hanks; the romantic drama For Roseanna opposite Jean Reno; Gurinder Chadha’s What’s Cooking?; More Dogs than Bones; Another You; Heartburn; 84 Charing Cross Road; Leader of the Band; The Secret of My Succe$s; Slaves of New York; Crazy People; and Chu and Blossom. Her television credits include guest & recurring roles on “Life in Pieces,” “NCIS,” “Mysteries of Laura,” “Two Broke Girls,” “Power,” “Luck” (series regular), “Law & Order: SVU,” “Subway Stories: Tales from The Underground,” “Indictment: The McMartin Trial,” “North Shore Fish,” “Psych,” “Monday Mornings,” “Bad Apple,” “The Lost Child,” “Star Spangled Banners,” “Frasier,” & starred in HBO’s Golden Globe and Emmy winning telefilm “Gia.”

MICHAEL URIE (Arnold Beckoff) can currently be seen in Government Inspector Off- Broadway. He originated the role of Alex More in Jonathan Tolins’ Buyer & Cellar Off-Broadway, on tour, and in London, for which he received the Drama Desk Award, Clarence Derwent Award, the Lucille Lortel Award, LA Drama Critics Award and nominations for the Drama League and Outer Critics Circle Awards. New York theatre credits include How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Broadway), Shows For Days (LCT), Homos, Or Everyone In America (LAByrinth), The Cherry Orchard (CSC), Angels in America (Signature), The Temperamentals (Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk and Theatre World awards, Drama League nomination), The Revenger’s Tragedy (Red Bull), Another Vermeer (HB Playwrights). Regionally, Urie has worked for Two River, The Old Globe, Vineyard Playhouse, South Coast Rep, Seattle Rep, Folger Shakespeare, Barrington Stage, Hyde Park (Austin), and The Blank (L.A.). Film: He’s Way More Famous Than You (also directed), Thank You for Judging (co-director/exec. producer), Beverly Hills Chihuahua, WTC View, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, The Decoy Bride, Petunia, Such Good People, The Hyperglot (director), and Grantham & Rose (exec. producer). TV: Gavin Sinclair on Modern Family, Younger, Workaholics, The Good Wife, Hot in Cleveland, Partners and Marc St. James on Ugly Betty. He currently hosts the Logo series Cocktails And Classics. Web series: What’s Your Emergency (director). Training: Juilliard.

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM

HARVEY FIERSTEIN (Playwright) won two Tony Awards for Torch Song Trilogy (Best Play, Best Actor). He has also written the Tony-winning hit Kinky Boots (now playing on four continents), as well as La Cage aux Folles (Tony and Drama Desk Awards), Newsies (Tony nominated), Casa Valentina (Tony nominated), A Catered Affair (12 Drama Desk nominations), Safe Sex (Ace Award), Legs Diamond, Spookhouse, Flatbush Tosca, Common Ground and more. He recently wrote teleplays for NBC’s live TV broadcasts of “Hairspray” and “The Wiz” and the upcoming “Bye Bye Birdie.” He also revised the book for Funny Girl, which ran to critical acclaim in London. His political editorials have been published in the New York Times, TV Guide and the Huffington Post, and broadcast on PBS’s “In the Life.” His children’s book, The Sissy Duckling (Humanitas Award), is now in its fifth printing. As an actor, Mr. Fierstein is known worldwide for his performances in films including Mrs. Doubtfire, Independence Day and Bullets Over Broadway, on stage in Hairspray (Tony Award), Fiddler on the Roof, La Cage aux Folles, and on TV shows such as “Smash,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “The Good Wife,” “Cheers” (Emmy nomination), “The Simpsons,” “Family Guy,” and “Nurse Jackie.”

MOISÉS KAUFMAN (Director) was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Obama in September. He is also a Tony and Emmy-nominated director and playwright. Broadway credits include The Heiress with Jessica Chastain; 33 Variations (which he also wrote) with Jane Fonda (5 Tony nominations); Rajiv Joseph’s Pulitzer Prize finalist Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo with Robin Williams; and the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play I Am My Own Wife. His plays, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde and The Laramie Project, are among the most performed plays in America over the last decade. Kaufman also co-wrote and directed the film adaptation of The Laramie Project for HBO, which received two Emmy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Writer. He is currently directing and writing a new Broadway-bound adaptation of Bizet’s Carmen with Grammy-winning composer Arturo O’Farrill. He is the artistic director of Tectonic Theater Project and a Guggenheim Playwrighting Fellow.

ABOUT SECOND STAGE THEATER

Under the artistic direction of Carole Rothman, SECOND STAGE THEATER produces a diverse range of premieres and new interpretations of America’s best contemporary theater by living American playwrights, including 2015 Pulitzer Prize winner Between Riverside and Crazy by Stephen Adly Guirgis; 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey; 2012 Pulitzer Prize winner Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegria Hudes; The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown; Dogfight by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul and Peter Duchan; Dear Evan Hansen by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, and Steven Levenson; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark by Lynn Nottage; Trust and Lonely, I’m Not by Paul Weitz; The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by Kristoffer Diaz; Everyday Rapture and Whorl Inside a Loop by Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott; Let Me Down Easy by Anna Deavere Smith; Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo; Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl; The Little Dog Laughed by Douglas Carter Beane; Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin; Jitney by August Wilson; Jar the Floor by Cheryl L. West; Uncommon Women and Others by Wendy Wasserstein; Crowns by Regina Taylor; Saturday Night by Stephen Sondheim; Afterbirth: Kathy & Mo’s Greatest Hits by Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy; This Is Our Youth by Kenneth Lonergan; Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants by Ricky Jay; Coastal Disturbances by Tina Howe; A Soldier’s Play by Charles Fuller; Little Murders by Jules Feiffer; The Good Times Are Killing Me by Lynda Barry; and Tiny Alice by Edward Albee.

The company’s more than 130 citations include six 2017 Tony Awards for Dear Evan Hansen (Best Musical, Best Lead Actor in a Musical, Ben Platt; Best Featured Actress in a Musical, Rachel Bay Jones; Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score, Best Orchestrations), three 2009 Tony Awards for Next to Normal (Best Lead Actress in a Musical, Alice Ripley; Best Score, Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey; Best Orchestrations, Michael Starobin and Tom Kitt); the 2007 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed); the 2005 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical (Rachel Sheinkin, …Spelling Bee) and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Dan Fogler, …Spelling Bee); the 2002 Tony Award for Best Director of a Play (Mary Zimmerman for Metamorphoses); the 2002 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work, 30 Obie Awards, eight Outer Critics Circle Awards, two Clarence Derwent Awards, 13 Drama Desk Awards, nine Theatre World Awards, 19 Lucille Lortel Awards, the Drama Critics Circle Award and 23 AUDELCO Awards.

In 1999, Second Stage Theater opened The Tony Kiser Theater, its state-of-the-art, 296-seat theater, designed by renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. In 2002, Second Stage launched “Second Stage Theater Uptown” series to showcase the work of up and coming artists at the McGinn/Cazale Theater. The Theater supports artists through several programs that include residencies, fellowships and commissions, and engages students and community members through education and outreach programs.

SECOND STAGE THEATER ON BROADWAY

Second Stage Theater purchased the historic Helen Hayes Theater, located at 240 W. 44th Street, in 2015. The company will continue to lease and operate their original theaters on the city’s Upper West Side and in Midtown Manhattan. Second Stage Theater has enlisted David Rockwell and The Rockwell Group to make renovations and updates to the 104 year old landmark building.

Second Stage Theater’s inaugural Broadway season will begin in March 2018 with Kenneth Lonergan’s Lobby Hero, directed by Trip Cullman and starring Michael Cera and Chris Evans in his Broadway debut. The season will also include the Broadway Premiere of Young Jean Lee’s Straight White Men, directed by Anna D. Shapiro.

This inaugural season kicks off Second Stage’s mission of creating and building a permanent home on Broadway dedicated exclusively to American plays and living American playwrights.

Second Stage Theater is investing in its future on Broadway by co-commissioning established playwrights through its STAGE-2-STAGE program, launching with Los Angeles’s Center Theatre Group. This ongoing program will provide a pathway to Broadway, with each play receiving an initial production in Los Angeles at one of CTG’s three theaters before moving to New York. The commissioned playwrights are Jon Robin Baitz, Will Eno, Lisa Kron, Young Jean Lee, Lynn Nottage, and Paula Vogel.

Second Stage Theater is also co-commissioning a new work from Bess Wohl for Broadway, through a partnership with the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and new works for Broadway from Lydia R. Diamond and Dominique Morisseau, which will be developed in association with Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theater.

SECOND STAGE THEATER OFF-BROADWAY

Second Stage Theater’s current season includes the New York premiere of Bruce Norris’s A Parallelogram, directed by Michael Greif, which will play through August 20.

Next season will also bring the World Premiere of Greg Pierce’s Cardinal, directed by Kate Whoriskey, and the New York premiere of Tracy Letts’ Mary Page Marlowe, directed by Lila Neugebauer in June of 2018.