Gilmore Girls Star Lauren Graham Tapped for Guys and Dolls

Gilmore Girls star Lauren Graham has been tapped to play Miss Adelaide in the forthcoming Broadway revival of Guys and Dolls. She will join previously announced star Oliver Platt as Nathan Detroit in the new production, directed by Des McAnuff and choreographed by Sergio Trujillo. Guys and Dolls will begin previews on February 3, 2009, at the newly refurbished Nederlander Theatre, and is set to open on March 1.

"We are thrilled with the casting of Lauren as Miss Adelaide,” lead producer Howard Panter said in a statement. “She is the perfect combination of leading lady and natural comedienne and I know she will be the ideal romantic foil for Oliver Platt's Nathan." Graham commented, "To be making my Broadway debut in this role, in this musical, is truly thrilling." Casting for the show’s two romantic leads, Sky Masterson and Sarah Brown, is still to be announced.

Graham received a Golden Globe nomination for her leading role as Lorelai Gilmore on Gilmore Girls. Her many feature films include the current Flash of Genius opposite Greg Kinnear, Evan Almighty, Because I Said So, Bad Santa, The Pacifier, The Amateurs, Nightwatch, One True Thing and the forthcoming Birds of America and Dream of the Romans. She last appeared onstage in 2002 in the Williamstown Theatre Festival production of Once in a Lifetime.

Guys and Dolls features music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. Based on stories by Damon Runyon, the musical is packed with hits such as “Fugue for Tinhorns,” “A Bushel and a Peck,” “Adelaide’s Lament,” “I’ll Know,” “Guys and Dolls,” “More I Cannot Wish You,” “Luck Be A Lady” and “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat.”

Guys and Dolls was first produced on Broadway in 1950, directed by George S. Kaufman and starring Robert Alda, Sam Levene, Isabel Bigley and Vivian Blaine. It initially ran for 1,201 performances, winning five 1951 Tony Awards including Best Musical. The most recently Broadway revival, which opened in 1992, starred Peter Gallagher, Nathan Lane, Faith Prince and Josie de Guzman.