Jenn Gambatese, John Ellison Conlee & More to Star in Lips Together, Teeth Apart at Westport Country Playhouse

Terrence McNally’s Lips Together, Teeth Apart was supposed to get a Broadway mounting in the spring of 2010, but the production was cancelled after the abrupt departure of Megan Mullally. Now the 20-year-old comedy is headed to the Westport Country Playhouse, where it will run July 12-30, directed by artistic director Mark Lamos.

Westport’s production will star Broadway vets Jenn Gambatese (Is He Dead?, Tarzan, All Shook Up) as Chloe Haddock, Tony nominee John Ellison Conlee (The Full Monty) as Sam Truman and Maggie Lacey (Dividing the Estate, Inherit the Wind, The Orphans’ Home Cycle) as Sally Truman, plus Chris Henry Coffey (regional productions of Resurrection Blues and The Front Page) as John Haddock.

Lips Together, Teeth Apart examines the comedic and dramatic conflicts that arise when a brother and sister and their spouses spend a summer weekend together on Fire Island surrounded by gay neighbors.

“Two years ago, I wanted to direct this play for Westport Country Playhouse, but New York’s Roundabout Theatre Company had just acquired the rights and was planning a Broadway revival,” Lamos said in a statement. “We couldn’t get a hold of it. When the production was canceled, the rights became available again, and we snapped them up.”

Lips Together, Teeth Apart was a long-running hit for Manhattan Theatre Club, opening off-Broadway on May 28, 1991, with Nathan Lane, Swoosie Kurtz, Christine Baranski and Anthony Heald. The play ran for 250 performances, then reopened on January 9, 1992, at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, where it ran for another six months.