Adrienne Barbeau to Return to New York Stage as Judy Garland in New Play

Adrienne Barbeau, a 1972 Tony Award nominee for Grease, will return to the New York stage as legendary stage and screen star Judy Garland in The Property Known as Garland.

Written by husband Billy Van Zandt, the piece takes place backstage at the theater in Copenhagen where Garland performed her final concert in March 1969. According to The New York Times, The Property Known as Garland will play at off-Broadway's Actors' Playhouse for a limited run from March 13 to June 4.

Although Barbeau made her Broadway debut as a replacement Hodel in the original production of Fiddler on the Roof, she achieved stage fame originating the part of Betty Rizzo in Grease. Opening at the Eden Theatre on February 14, 1972, the wise-cracking stage creation brought Barbeau a Tony Award nomination as Best Featured Actress in a Musical as well as a Theatre World Award.

Her success as Rizzo in Grease took Barbeau to Hollywood, where she played the role of daughter Carol in the hit sitcom Maude. A regular on the big and small screen, Barbeau has been seen in dozens of films, including The Fog, Escape from New York, Swamp Thing, Cannonball Run, Creepshow, Back to School, Two Evil Eyes and The Convent. She also recently completed two seasons as Ruthie the Snake Dancer on HBO's Carnivale.

Although Barbeau has not appeared on the New York stage since Grease over three decades ago, she has made various regional theater appearances in the interim. Among the shows in which she has starred: Pump Boys & Dinettes, Women Behind Bars, And the World Goes Round, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Love Letters, the Canadian premiere of Lost in Yonkers and a recent run in Fiddler on the Roof, playing Golde.

Carroll and Graf will publish Barbeau's autobiography in Spring 2006, which is titled There Are Worse Things I Could Do, after the song she made famous in Grease.