Philip Bosco & Audra McDonald Headline Roundabout's 2006-2007 Season

The Roundabout Theatre Company has announced select shows for its 2006-2007 season. George Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House, the musical 110 in the Shade and Brian Friel's The Home Place join the company's previously announced production of Patrick Marber's Howard Katz in the season lineup.

Tony winner Philip Bosco will star in Heartbreak House, which is scheduled for the American Airlines Theatre in the winter. The play centers on the unlikely romantic encounters that occur in an estate on the English countryside. There romance springs eternal but is never mutual and the only stable marriages have the least to do with love.

Four-time Tony winner Audra McDonald will headline 110 in the Shade, directed by Lonny Price, at Studio 54 in the spring of 2007. In 110 in the Shade, the mercurial Starbuck promises rain for a drought-stricken town and passion for the stalwart, but resigned, Lizzie McDonald. The show features music by Harvey Schmidt, lyrics by Tom Jones and a book by N. Richard Nash based on Nash's The Rainmaker. Songs include "Love, Don't Turn Away" and "Melisande."

The Home Place will play off-Broadway at the Laura Pels Theatre in the spring/summer 2007 slot Howard Katz is scheduled for the venue in the winter. The play centers on the widowed Christopher Gore, his son David, and the woman they are both in love with, their housekeeper Margaret. The year is 1878, but in this era of unrest at the dawn of Home Rule, the seemingly serene life enjoyed at their home in The Lodge in Ballybeg is threatened by the arrival of Christopher's English cousin, who unwittingly ignites deep animosity among the villagers of Ballybeg. Joe Dowling will direct this American premiere.

The Roundabout is still in the midst of its 2005-2006 season. The company is currently presenting The Pajama Game on Broadway at the American Airlines Theatre and Entertaining Mr. Sloan off-Broadway at the Laura Pels Theatre. It is also scheduled to present The Threepenny Opera starting March 24 at Studio 54 and Greg Kotis' Pig Farm beginning June 9 at the Laura Pels.