Jayne Paterson will step up from understudy to leading player in the off-Broadway revival of Jacques Brel Is Alive and Living in Paris beginning January 9, 2007. She replaces original cast member Natascia Diaz, who will be part of the Kennedy Center's forthcoming production of Carnival. As previously announced, Constantine Maroulis, who recently played Sammy on Broadway in The Wedding Singer, is set to join the show the same day, replacing Jim Stanek. Robert Cuccioli and Gay Marshall round out the cast.
Canada native Paterson was the final Fantine in the original Broadway production of Les Misérables and appeared on Broadway in Jane Eyre. Her regional credits include Romeo and Juliet, The Wizard of Oz, The Tempest, Swing, A Little Night Music, Godspell, Anything Goes, Anne of Green Gables and A Clockwork Orange.
With a cast of four actors and three musicians, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris transforms Brel's musical compositions into a timeless theatrical experience that examines themes of love, war, adventure, broken dreams, growing old and death, all performed with passion and humor. The original show opened in 1968 at The Village Gate in Greenwich Village and ran for more than four years. The current revival, directed by Gordon Greenberg, began performances at the Zipper Theatre on March 5.
