Harris, Colin & Rabe to Star in Roundabout's Old Acquaintance

Harriet Harris, Margaret Colin and Lily Rabe will star in the Roundabout Theatre Company's Broadway revival of John Van Druten's 1940 comedy Old Acquaintance. The production will begin previews at the American Airlines Theatre on June 1 and open officially on June 28, directed by Hartford Stage artistic director Michael Wilson. The limited engagement will continue through August 19.

Old Acquaintance is described as a delightful drawing-room comedy about two childhood friends who have grown into very different adults. Though they are both successful authors, independent Katharine "Kit" Markham Colin carries on an affair with a younger man while divorcee Mildred "Millie" Drake Harris refuses to loosen the apron strings on her teenage daughter, Deidre Rabe. But when Deidre's struggles to become more like her idol Kit have far-reaching consequences, the two women who thought they were growing apart realize that they may have much more in common than they'd like to admit.

Harris won a Tony Award for her performance as Mrs. Meers in Thoroughly Modern Millie and co-starred with Nathan Lane in the Roundabout's 2000 revival of The Man Who Came to Dinner, the inaugural production at the American Airlines Theatre. Other New York theater credits include Four Baboons Adoring the Sun, Jeffrey, Bella, Belle of Byelorussia, London Suite, The Crucible, Man and Superman and the Public Theater's production of Hamlet, Julius Caesar and Macbeth. Harris is known to TV audiences for her role as Felicia Tilman on Desperate Housewives.

Colin most recently starred in the Manhattan Theatre Club's production of John Patrick Shanley's Defiance and won a Theatre World Award for playing First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in the Broadway production of Jackie. Other New York credits include A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, Psychopathia Sexualis, Sight Unseen, Speaking in Tongues, Triptych and Aristocrats.

Rabe appeared in the Roundabout's Broadway revival of Shaw's Heartbreak House as Ellie Dunn last fall and played Annelle in the 2005 Broadway revival of Steel Magnolias. Off-Broadway, she starred in Colder Than Here.

Old Acquaintance premiered on Broadway in 1940 at the Morosco Theatre, starring Jane Cowl and Peggy Wood. In 1943, the play was made into feature film starring Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins. In addition to Old Acquaintance, Van Druten's plays include Leave Her to Heaven 1940, The Voice of the Turtle 1943, I Remember Mama 1944, Bell, Book and Candle 1950 and I Am a Camera 1951.