Broadway.com has learned that Brooke Shields is set to play Ruth Sherwood in Wonderful Town. She will begin performances on September 28, replacing original headliner Donna Murphy.
Shields has been an actress and model since she was a baby. At the age of 13, she had a breakout role as a child prostitute in Louis Malle's Pretty Baby. Her film credits include Just You and Me, Kid, The Blue Lagoon, Endless Love, Brenda Starr, The Bachelor and Black and White. Her major television credit is Suddenly Susan, a show she starred in for four seasons. Her work on Suddenly Susan earned her two Golden Globe nominations. Shields made her professional stage debut in 1986, in an off-Broadway production Marguerite Duras' The Eden Cinema. She has appeared on Broadway twice before, as Rizzo in the 1995 Grease revival and as Sally Bowles for a stint in Cabaret on 2001. Her other theatrical credits include regional productions of Love Letters and The Vagina Monologues.
Wonderful Town currently stars Murphy, Jennifer Westfeldt, Gregg Edelman, Peter Benson, Michael McGrath, Nancy Anderson, Stanley Wayne Mathis, David Margulies, Raymond Jaramillo McLeod, Timothy Shew and Randy Danson. It opened November 23, 2003 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre and won director/choreographer Kathleen Marshall a Tony Award for Best Choreography.