Harry Connick Jr. Headed Back to Broadway in Nice Work If You Can Get It

Harry Connick Jr. will return to Broadway in a new Gershwin musical in March 2009. The show, titled Nice Work if You Can Get it, will reunite Connick with director/choreographer Kathleen Marshall, who guided him to a Tony-nominated star performance in the 2006 revival of The Pajama Game. Theater, preview and opening dates and additional casting will be announced at a later date.

Nice Work If You Can Get It will feature music and lyrics by the legendary team of George and Ira Gershwin and a book by I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change scribe Joe DiPietro. The show will play a pre-Broadway engagement at Boston's Colonial Theatre December 16 through January 11, 2009.

Connick will star as a Long Island playboy in a show filled with bootleggers, gold-diggers and timeless Gershwin hits. Although the press announcement doesn't mention Oh, Kay!, the new show seems to share a plotline with the Gershwins' 1926 musical, which featured a book by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse. In addition to the shows the brothers wrote during their lifetime, Gershwin standards have been featured in more recent Broadway hits such as Crazy for You 1992 and My One and Only 1982.

In addition to his Tony-nominated performance in The Pajama Game, Connick has performed sold-out concerts on Broadway and received a Tony nomination for his music and lyrics to 2001's Thou Shalt Not. Film acting credits include P.S. I Love You, Copycat, Independence Day and Hope Floats. His music has also contributed to films such as When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle. Connick's numerous television appearances, concerts and albums have earned him three Grammy Awards and an Emmy.

The creative team of Nice Work If You Can Get It includes music arrangements by Rob Fisher, scenic design by Derek McLane, costume design by Martin Pakledinaz, lighting design by Kenneth Posner and sound by Acme Sound Partners.

The producers will include Scott Landis, Broadway Across America, Ira Pittleman, Tom Hulce, Roy Furman, Maberry Theatricals,Ann Marie Wilkins and Emanuel Azenberg.