Pine Replaces Collins in Broadway's Royal Family; Additional Casting Announced

Additional casting has been announced for MTC’s upcoming Broadway production of George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber’s The Royal Family. Larry Pine, Freddy Arsenault, Kelli Barrett, Carolyn Stefanie Clay, Rufus Collins, David Greenspan and Henny Russell have joined the play, directed by Doug Hughes. Pine replaces the previously announced Stephen Collins, who has withdrawn from the production due to personal reasons. The Royal Family begins previews at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on September 15, with opening night set for October 8.

Pine (Gilbert Marshall), Arsenault (Perry Stewart), Barrett (Gwen Cavendish), Clay (Della), Collins (McDermott/Gunga), Greenspan (Jo) and Russell round out a cast headed by the previously announced Ana Gasteyer (Kitty Dean), Tony winner John Glover (Herbert Dean), Tony Award winner and Oscar nominee Rosemary Harris (Fanny Cavendish), Tony Award nominee Jan Maxwell (Julie Cavendish), Tony Award nominee Tony Roberts (Oscar Wolfe) and Tony Award nominee Reg Rogers (Tony Cavendish).

This classic 1927 comedy of manners follows the Cavendishes, a famous family of stage stars, as they go about the drama of the day: choosing scripts, dashing off to a performance and stealing kisses with handsome beaus. But what’s this business about the younger Miss Cavendish wanting to quit the stage for domestic bliss? Never, darling!

Pine’s Broadway credits include The Seagull, End of the World, Angels in America and Bus Stop. Off-Broadway, he has been seen in Beast, Secret Order, The Shanghai Gesture, Stuff Happens, Enemy of the People, The Women of Lockerbie, Saved or Destroyed and Talk Radio, among many others. Film and TV credits include OutSourced, Vicky Christina Barcelona, Empire Falls and The Royal Tenenbaums, Law & Order, Gilmore Girls, Oz, New York Undercover and One Life to Live.

Arsenault will make his Broadway debut with The Royal Family. His off-Broadway credits include Henry V and Blue Man Group. Regionally, he has appeared in The Spy (The Guthrie Theatre), Twelfth Night (The American Shakespeare Center), Playboy of the Western World (The Hangar Theatre) and La Cage aux Folles (The Merry-Go-Round Playhouse).

Barrett will also make her Broadway debut in The Royal Family. She was last seen off-Broadway as Sherrie in Rock of Ages. Additional theater credits include Knickerbocker Holiday (York Theater), The Last Goodbye (Joe’s Pub), Gypsy (Westchester Broadway Theater) and Ace (Cincinnati Playhouse). Barrett’s screen credits include Confessions of a Shopaholic, The Baster and Remember Me.

Clay has appeared on Broadway in Come Back, Little Sheba; Drowning Crow and Doubt. Off-Broadway, she performed in Light Raise the Roof. Film credits include Sherrybaby and Made For Each Other.

Collins’ Broadway credits include To Be, or Not To Be; An Ideal Husband; Day in the Death of Joe Egg and The Homecoming. Off-Broadway credits include Aristocrats, Orson’s Shadow, House and Garden,Hamlet, Richard II, A Doll’s House and Pillars of Society. On television he has been seen on Law & Order, All My Children and The Guiding Light.

Greenspan was recently seen off-Broadway in MCC’s Coraline. Additional New York credits include Cornbury, Some Men, Faust, The Wax, Lipstick Traces and The Boys in the Band.

Russell was seen on Broadway in Impressionism and Major Barbara. Off-Broadway, she appeared in Fuddy Meers and Boy Gets Girl. Film credits include Revolutionary Road, Tie a Yellow Ribbon, Corn and Loopy. Television credits include Possible Side Effects, Gossip Girl, Law & Order and Hope & Faith.

The creative team for The Royal Family includes John Lee Beatty (scenic design), Catherine Zuber (costume design), Kenneth Posner (lighting design), Darron L. West (sound design), Maury Yeston (original music), Tom Watson (hair and wig design) and Rick Sordelet (fight director).

Four additional cast members will be announced shortly, completing the show’s company of 17.