Marc Kudisch to Sub For Harry Connick Jr. in Vineyard Theatre Lab Production of Broadway-Bound On a Clear Day

Off-Broadway's Vineyard Theatre will produce a developmental lab of the reworked and Broadway-bound revival of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. Three-time Tony nominee Marc Kudisch will lead the production, which runs July 25 through 30, as Dr. Mark Bruckner. Harry Connick Jr., who will play Bruckner in the show's forthcoming Broadway production, is unable to participate in the lab series due to previously scheduled commitments. The lab is open to Vineyard Theatre members only.

The cast of the lab staging will also include Heather Ayers, Steven Booth, Ben Eakeley, Drew Gehling, Kendal Hartse, Paul O'Brien, Kerry O'Malley, Jessie Mueller, Zachary Prince, Sarah Stiles, David Turner, Alysha Umphress and Lori Wilner. Connick is currently the only actor confirmed for the show's Broadway run this fall.

Featuring a revised book by Peter Parnell, the new version of On a Clear Day follows Dr. Mark Bruckner (Connick) a handsome psychiatrist and professor who is still in love with his late wife. When Bruckner treats David Gamble, a quirky young florists' assistant, Bruckner puts Gamble under hypnosis to help him quit smoking so the young man can move in with his perfect boyfriend, Warren. During their session, Bruckner stumbles upon what he believes to be Gamble's former self, a dazzling and self-possessed 1940s jazz singer named Melinda Wells. Bruckner is instantly smitten by Melinda and pursues a love affair with the woman, who's from another time and place and who may have never even existed.

Directed by Michael Mayer and featuring music by Burton Lane and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, the revival of On a Clear Day will begin its Broadway run at the St. James Theatre on November 12. Opening night is set for December 11. Following a workshop at The Vineyard in the fall of 2009, On a Clear Day received a series of concert readings as part of New York Stage and Film and Vassar's Powerhouse Theater season in the summer of 2010. The original Broadway production first opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on October 17, 1965 and earned Tony Award nominations for stars John Cullum and Barbara Harris