Nielsen, Hoch & More Join Charles Busch in Die Mommie Die!

Casting is now complete for the off-Broadway premiere of Charles Busch's comedy Die Mommie Die!. The play begins previews on October 10 at New World Stages and opens on October 21, directed by Carl Andress. The limited engagement is scheduled to run through February 17, 2008.

In addition to Busch, who stars as fallen pop diva Angela Arden, Die Mommie Die! stars Bob Ari The Constant Wife, Chris Hoch Spamalot as Tony Parker, newcomer Ashley Morris, Kristine Nielsen Crazy Mary, Our Leading Lady, Miss Witherspoon, and Emmy Award nominee Van Hansis As the World Turns.

A comedy-thriller steeped in the glamour of 1960s Hollywood, Die Mommie Die! tells the story of Angela Arden's hateful marriage to film producer Sol Sussman Ari. Desperate to find happiness with her younger lover, an out-of-work TV actor named Tony Parker Hoch, Angela gruesomely murders her husband with the aid of a poisoned suppository. In a plot that reflects Greek tragedy as well as Hollywood kitsch, Angela's manipulative daughter, Edith Morris, convinces her "emotionally disturbed" brother, Lance Hansis, that together they must avenge their father's death—by killing their mother. Neilsen plays the Sussmans' live-in domestic, Bootsie Carp.

Die Mommie Die is being produced by Bob Boyett and Daryl Roth and features scenic design by Michael Anania, costume design by Jessica Jahn, lighting design by Ben Stanton and original music composition by Lewis Flinn. Mr. Busch's costumes are designed and created by Michael Bottari and Ronald Case.

Busch is the author of Our Leading Lady, The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, Shangai Moon, The Lady in Question, Psycho Beach Party and Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, among many others, and collaborated with Boy George on the Broadway musical Taboo. Busch also wrote and starred in the 2003 film version of Die Mommie Die!