Tony Nominee Carol Lawrence to Lead New Off-Broadway Romantic Comedy Handle with Care

Bon voyage! Tony nominee Carol Lawrence is traveling to America in Handle with Care, a new play by Emmy nominee Jason Odell Williams. Directed by Karen Carpenter (Love, Loss and What I Wore), the romantic comedy will begin performances December 3, with an official opening night on December 15 at off-Broadway’s Westside Theatre Downstairs.

In addition to Lawrence, Handle with Care will feature Sheffield Chastain (White Christmas), Charlotte Cohn (Coram Boy) and Jonathan Sale (The Shape of Things). The new play tells the story of a young Israeli woman who reluctantly travels with her grandmother to America. The young woman, who has little command of English, meets a man who has little command of romance. Is their inevitable love an accident, or destiny generations in the making? Handle with Care originally premiered at Florida's Gulfshore Playhouse in 2011.

Lawrence garnered a Tony nomination for her performance as Maria in the original Broadway production of West Side Story. Her many Broadway credits also include Plain and Fancy, South Pacific, Shangri-La, Ziegfeld Follies of 1957, Subways Are for Sleeping, Night Life, I Do! I Do! and Kiss of the Spider Woman.

Handle with Care features set design by David Arsenault and lighting design by Cory Pattak.