Betsy Wolfe & Justin Vivian Bond to Star in Benefit Concert of Tales of the City on Broadway

Tales of the City, the iconic ensemble story of love and identity in 1970s San Francisco, will be presented in a one-night-only benefit concert at the Music Box Theatre on March 27. Broadway fave Betsy Wolfe (Falsettos) and Tony nominee Justin Vivian Bond (Kiki & Herb: Alive on Broadway) have been tapped to star. Travis Greisler is at the helm, and Cian McCarthy will serve as music director. With a rocking score by the Grammy-nominated Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears and John Garden, and a book by Tony Award winner Jeff Whitty, the vibrant musical is receiving its New York debut six years after its run at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. All proceeds will benefit the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center and The Trevor Project.

Most recently seen on Broadway in Falsettos, Wolfe reprises her lead performance as Mary Ann Singleton, which she played in the American Conservatory Theatre run in 2011. Her other Broadway credits include Bullets Over Broadway, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Everyday Rapture and 110 in the Shade.

Bond will play Anna Madrigal. Bond received a Tony nomination in 2007 for performing in Kiki & Herb: Alive on Broadway and has appeared on screen in John Cameron Mitchell's Shortbus, Sunset Stories, Imaginary Heroes and Fanci's Persuasion. As a trans-genre artist, Bond's solo exhibitions of watercolors, sculptural installations and live art have been presented by Participant, Inc., Art Market Provincetown and Vitrine. Bond also authored the Lambda Literary Award winning memoir Tango: My Childhood, Backwards and in High Heels.

The cast will also feature appearances from Tales of the City series scribe Armistead Maupin, Jose Llana (The King and I), Wesley Taylor (The Addams Family), Mary Birdsong (Hairspray), Josh Breckenridge (Come From Away), Jeffrey Carlson (Taboo), Kathleen Monteleone (Hands on a Hardbody) and Dianne J. Findlay (Fish in the Dark). The concert will feature many returning cast members,as well as support from the original creative team, including original director Jason Moore and music director/vocal arranger Stephen Oremus. Additional casting will be announced at a later date.

Based on the beloved series of novels by Armistead Maupin, Tales of the City follows a community of friends, lovers, and others who reside at the mythical address of 28 Barbary Lane in 1976 San Francisco. Mary Ann Singleton, a fresh arrival from Ohio, falls into a diverse band of Bohemians and blue-bloods, as families are created and rediscovered under the watchful eye of mystical landlady Anna Madrigal (Bond).

Tales of the City was first developed at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Music Theater Conference in 2009.