Danny Burstein and Ron Raines Join the Cast of Kennedy Center's Follies

Two-time Tony nominee Danny Burstein and Broadway vet Ron Raines have joined the cast of the Kennedy Center’s forthcoming revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies. Burstein, currently on Broadway in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, will play Buddy Plummer, and Raines has won the role of Benjamin Stone. The production will run May 7-June 19, 2011, at the Eisenhower Theater, directed by Eric Schaeffer.

Previously announced stars for Follies include Bernadette Peters as Sally Durant Plummer, Jan Maxwell as Phyllis Rogers Stone, Elaine Paige as Carlotta Campion and Linda Lavin as Hattie Walker, along with Terrence Currier as Theodore Whitman, Rosalind Elias as Heidi Schiller, Florence Lacey as Sandra Crane, Régine as Solange LaFitte, David Sabin as Dimitri Weismann, Susan Watson as Emily Whitman and Terri White as Stella Deems.

Follies features a book by James Goldman and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. When former members of the Weismann Follies reunite on the eve of their theater's demolition, two couples remember their past and face the harsher realities of the present. The shadows of their younger selves remind them of the complicated steps they've danced, both on the stage and throughout their lives. Casting has not been announced for the younger versions of the character to be played by Peters, Maxwell, Burstein and Raines.

The original Broadway production of Follies opened on April 4, 1971 starring Dorothy Collins, John McMartin, Gene Nelson and Alexis Smith. It ran for 522 performances in the Winter Garden Theatre and received seven Tony Awards, including Best Original Score.

Burstein received Tony nominations for South Pacific and The Drowsy Chaperone and has appeared on Broadway in Saint Joan, The Seagull, Three Men on a Horse, A Little Hotel on the Side, The Flowering Peach, A Class Act, Titanic and Company.

Raines has appeared on Broadway in Chicago, Teddy & Alice and Show Boat. He is a three-time Emmy nominee for his work on the soap opera Guiding Light and has starred in numerous regional musical productions.

The Kennedy Center production of Follies will feature choreography by Warren Carlyle and music direction by James Moore, conducting the 28-piece Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra and using Jonathan Tunick’s original orchestrations. The creative team includes Derek McLane (scenic design), Gregg Barnes (costume design) and Natasha Katz (lighting design).