Casting for Kennedy Center Carnival Announced

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has announced the cast and creative team for its forthcoming production of Carnival!, to be presented at the Eisenhower Theater February 17 - March 11, 2007. The cast will include Ereni Sevasti as Lili, Jim Stanek as Paul, Sebastian La Cause as Marco, Natascia Diaz as Rosalie, Jonathan Lee Iverson as Schlegel and Seán Martin Hingston as Jacquot. Robert Longbottom Anything Goes, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Side Show, Flower Drum Song and the Kennedy Center's production of Mister Roberts will direct and choreograph. Opening night has been set for February 24, 2007.

Based on the 1953 MGM film Lili, Carnival! tells the story of a girl from an isolated village in France who joins the traveling Grande Imperial Cirque de Paris. Falling for the troupe's manipulative magician, she also enchants a disillusioned puppeteer, who can only show his love through his whimsical creations.

Winner of two 1962 Tony Awards, Carnival! features music and lyrics by Bob Merrill and a book by Michael Stewart and was originally directed and choreographed by Gower Champion. Carnival! starred Anna Maria Alberghetti, who won the Tony Award for Best Actress as Lili; Jerry Orbach, who made his Broadway debut as Paul; James Mitchell as Marco and Kaye Ballard as Rosalie.

In the tradition of casting a new find in the musical's pivotal role, the Kennedy Center will present Ereni Sevasti as Lili. A New Jersey native, Sevasti has appeared regionally in The Sound of Music, All the King's Horses, Little Shop of Horrors and The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Stanek is currently appearing in the off-Broadway production of Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. His Broadway credits include Lestat, A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum, The Rivals, Little Women and Indiscretions. Off-Broadway and regional productions include I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, Captain's Courageous, My Fair Lady, Threepenny Opera, Three Musketeers and Thoroughly Modern Millie.

La Cause has been seen on Broadway in The Rocky Horror Show, Minnelli on Minnelli, Once Upon a Mattress and Chicago. He will make his Washington D.C. debut this month in She Loves Me at Arena Stage. Movie credits include Boogie Nights, Scream II, Chicago, Eraser, Showgirls and Penny Dreadful.

Diaz is currently appearing off-Broadway alongside Stanek in Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. Broadway credits include Man of La Mancha, Seussical, The Capeman and Carousel. Off-Broadway credits include tick, tick...BOOM!, Saturday Night and Bright Lights, Big City. She won a Jeff Award for her work in West Side Story and made her Kennedy Center debut in A Little Night Music in the Sondheim Festival in 2002.

Hingston has performed ensemble roles in Broadway productions of Contact, Swing! and Crazy for You. Iverson, named one of the 10 Most Fascinating People by Barbara Walters in 1999, began his career singing with the Boys Choir of Harlem and later became the first African-American ringmaster at the age of 22 when he joined the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

The production's sets will be designed by Andrew Jackness, costumes by Paul Tazewell, lighting by Ken Billington, puppets by Edward Christie and magic by Joe Eddie Fairchild.