Joyce Van Patten Joins Donna Murphy in The People in the Picture

Joyce Van Patten and Andie Mechanic will complete the cast of the forthcoming world premiere musical The People in the Picture, starring Donna Murphy. The show, which features a book and lyrics by Beaches scribe Iris Rainer Dart and music by Mike Stoller and Artie Butler, will begin performances at Studio 54 on April 1 and open April 28, directed by Leonard Foglia.

In addition to Murphy and the two newcomers, the cast will feature the previously announced Alexander Gemignani (Moishe), Louis Hobson (Doctor Goldblum), Christopher Innvar (Chaim), Nicole Parker (Red), Rachel Resheff (Jenny), Hal Robinson (Doovie, Rabbi Velvel), Lewis J. Stadlen (Avram Krinsky) and Chip Zien (Yoshie Pinsker). Rounding out the company are Brad Bradley, Rachel Bress, Jeremy Davis, Emilee Dupre, Maya Goldman, Shannon Lewis, Jessica Lea Patty, Megan Reinking, Jeffrey Schecter, Paul Anthony Stewart and Stuart Zagnit.

Bubbie (Murphy) is a grandmother in 1970s New York City who was once the darling of the Yiddish Theatre in pre-war Poland. Although her granddaughter Jenny is enchanted by her tales of the old world, her daughter Red, a TV writer, will do anything to keep from looking back at the Holocaust and her childhood in Warsaw.

Van Patten (Chayesel) has appeared on Broadway in I Ought to Be in Pictures, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Rumors, Jakes Women, Taller Than A Dwarf and More To Love. Mechanic (Young Red) will make her Broadway debut in The People in the Picture; her previous theater credits include Les Miserables, Annie, Once Upon a Mattress and A Year With Frog and Toad.

The People in the Picture’s creative team includes Paul Gemignani (musical direction), Michael Starobin (orchestrations), Andy Blankenbuehler (musical staging), Riccardo Hernandez (sets), Ann Hould-Ward (costumes), James F. Ingalls (lights), Dan Moses Schreier (sound), Elaine J. McCarthy (projections), Paul Huntley (hair & wigs) and Angelina Avallone (makeup). Roundabout Theatre Company will produce the limited engagement, set to play through June 19, 2011.