Tony Winner Robert Sean Leonard to Join Jim Belushi in Broadway’s Born Yesterday

Tony Award winner Robert Sean Leonard will join previously announced stars Jim Belushi and Nina Arianda in the upcoming Broadway revival of Garson Kanin's Born Yesterday, according to The New York Times. The show, directed by Doug Hughes, will begin performances at the Cort Theatre on March 31 and officially open on April 24.

Leonard joins the cast as Paul Verrall, a journalist tasked with educating ditzy showgirl Billie Dawn (Arianda), the companion to crooked mogul Harry Brock (Belushi).

Leonard’s previous Broadway credits include Candida and Long Day’s Journey into Night, both of which earned him Tony nominations, as well as The Invention of Love, which won him the Tony for featured actor in a play. His many screen credits include Dead Poet’s Society, Swing Kids, Much Ado About Nothing, The Last Days of Disco, and a starring role in the hit TV series House.

Born Yesterday originally opened on February 4, 1946, with a cast that included Judy Holliday as Billie Dawn, Paul Douglas as Harry Brock and Gary Merrill as Paul Verrall. The play ran for 1,642 performances and was adapted into a 1950 film that won Holliday a Best Actress Oscar opposite Broderick Crawford as Harry and William Holden as Paul. A 1989 Broadway revival starred Madeline Kahn, Ed Asner and Daniel Hugh Kelly.