Barbara Walsh & Heather Laws to Join Esparza in Cincinnati Company

Tony Award nominee Barbara Walsh will play Joanne opposite Raul Esparza's Bobby in the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park production of Company. The John Doyle staging will also feature Heather Laws in the role of harried bride-to-be Amy.

Walsh received a Tony nomination in 1992 for William Finn's Falsettos. She has also appeared on Broadway in Rock 'n Roll! The First 5,000 Years, Nine, Blood Brothers, Big and Hairspray. Off-Broadway credits include Birds of Paradise, Stars in Your Eyes and the recent Transport Group musical Normal. Regionally, she has been seen in The Most Happy Fella, Houdini, Exactly Like You, A Streetcar Named Desire and Ragtime.

Laws made her Broadway debut as Kit Kat girl Rosie in the Roundabout Theatre revival of Cabaret at Studio 54. After several years in the production, she began to cover the leading role of Sally Bowles, which she performed often and eventually assumed for a limited run in early 2003. She was most recently seen in the company of The Boy from Oz, where she covered the roles of both Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli.

Completing the cast are Keith Butterbaugh The Phantom of the Opera as Harry, Matt Castle as Peter, Robert Cunningham as Paul, Angel Desai as Marta, Kelly Jeanne Grant as Kathy, Kristin Huffman as Sarah, Amy Justman as Susan, Leenya Rideout Cabaret as Jenny, Fred Rose Cabaret as David, Bruce Sabath as Larry and Elizabeth Stanley as April.

Company takes an unconventional look at love and commitment in a complex modern world. The show is a sophisticated portrayal of five married couples as seen through the eyes of their mutual friend Bobby Esparza, a bachelor weighing the pros and cons of wedded life. The original Broadway production, which opened at New York's Alvin Theatre in 1970, was honored with the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical as well as six Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

Like Doyle's production of Sweeney Todd, this mounting of Company will feature actors who also serve as the show's orchestra of musicians. It is scheduled to run from March 14 through April 14 at the Playhouse's Robert S. Marx Theatre.