A Naked Girl on the Appian Way

"Unfortunately, there's no nudity in the show," rising star Matthew Morrison Hairspray, The Light in the Piazza laughingly explains about Richard Greenberg's provocatively titled new play A Naked Girl on the Appian Way. The play does however offer some heady insights into parent-child relationships with a big helping of Greenberg's usual clever wit.

Naked Girl centers on a family thrown into turmoil when two of the children return from a year of European travel to reveal surprising news. Morrison, a musical theater veteran, loved the script immediately and is excited to call this project his straight-play debut. "I love how funny it is," he says. "But it's complexly funny. There's a lot going on in the script, but it's very well thought out."

Naked Girl is notable as the vehicle of choice for Jill Clayburgh's return to the Broadway stage after a 20-year absence. Clayburgh plays Bess, a successful cookbook author and the mother of three. Bess' distracted genius of a husband, Jeffrey, is played by Richard Thomas, who has recently been seen on the New York stage in As You Like It at Central Park's Delacorte Theatre and in Democracy on Broadway.

So how did Hughes lure Clayburgh back to Broadway? "I had a feeling she would like this play and this part," he says. "It was one of those rare, happy occasions where I was proven right almost instantly. She called me up to say yes within hours of reading it. That was that."

A NAKED GIRL ON THE APPIAN WAY WHERE: American Airlines Theatre, 227 W. 42nd St. WHEN: Starts September 13, opens October 6