The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Starring Chita Rivera, Picnic & More Set for Roundabout 2012-13 Season

Roundabout Theatre Company has announced three productions for its upcoming 2012-13 season including a revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, starring two -time Tony winner Chita Rivera. The season will also feature a revival of William Inge's Picnic in addition to a new play from Steven Levenson. Exact dates for the productions will be announced shortly.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood will bow at Broadway's Studio 54 in the fall of 2012, directed by Scott Ellis and featuring musical direction by Paul Gemignani. Rivera, a Tony winner for Kiss of the Spider Woman and The Rink, will return to Broadway for the first time since 2006 to play Princess Puffer. Featuring a score and book by Rupert Holmes, the whodunit murder mystery is an adaptation of Charles Dickens' unfinished novel. The musical originally opened on Broadway on December 2, 1985, running for 608 performances and winning five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score.

Sam Gold will direct a revival of William Inge’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Picnic in winter 2013 at Broadway's American Airlines Theatre. The play will be presented in association with producer Darren Begert. Set on a balmy Labor Day in the American Heartland, the show follows a group of women preparing for a picnic. When a handsome young drifter named Hal arrives, his combination of uncouth manners and titillating charm sends the women reeling, especially the beautiful Madge. When Hal is forced out of town, Madge must decide whether their fleeting encounter is worth changing the course of her life. The play first ran on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre in 1953 and was revived in 1994. 

Steven Levenson’s The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin will run at off-Broadway's Laura Pels Theatre in a production directed by Scott Ellis. The play follows Tom Durnin, a man who did time for a white-collar crime and is now determined to win back the respect and position he believes he deserves. Tom’s son warily allows his father to camp out on his couch, hoping the man who let everyone down has finally turned a new page. After a lifetime of empty promises, can Tom find a place in a family that has worked so hard to move on without him?

Additional cast members and design teams for the productions, as well as the season's additional offerings, will be announced shortly.