LCT's Mitzi Newhouse Season to Include Saturn Returns & Happiness

Lincoln Center Theater will present Noah Haidle's play Saturn Returns and Happiness, new musical collaboration involving John Weidman, Scott Frankel, Michael Korie and Susan Stroman, in its 2008-2009 season at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. The company will open the two shows at its off-Broadway house while South Pacific continues its sold-out run upstairs the Vivian Beaumont Theatre.

Saturn Returns will begin performances on October 16 and open on November 10, with a cast that includes John McMartin, James Rebhorn, Robert Eli and Rosie Benton, directed by Nicholas Martin.

The planet Saturn's orbital return to its position at the moment of a person's birth happens every 30 years. Playwright Hidle Mr. Marmalade, Persephone uses this phenomenon to take a look at one man, Gustin played at the three different stages of his life by Eli, McMartin and Rebhorn, during these pivotal moments as he confronts the three women in his life all played by Benton.

Saturn Returns will have sets by Ralph Funicello, costumes by Robert Morgan and original music and sound design by Mark Bennett.

Happiness, which will begin performances next spring, features a book by John Weidman, music by Scott Frankel, lyrics by Michael Korie and direction and choreography by Susan Stroman. It was commissioned and developed by LCT.

The new musical tells the stories of a disparate group of New Yorkers caught on a subway train under unusual circumstances. Happiness reunites director-choreographer Stroman and Weidman, whose last LCT collaboration was the Tony Award winning Best Musical Contact, and will mark the LCT debuts of Frankel and Korie, the composer and lyricist of Grey Gardens.

The musical will have sets by Thomas Lynch, costumes by William Ivey Long, lighting by Peter Kaczorowski and sound design by Scott Lehrer.

In addition to Saturn Returns, Happiness and South Pacific, LCT will present, by arrangement with Primary Stages, Horton Foote's Dividing the Estate, directed by Michael Wilson. Performances begin on October 20 at the Booth Theatre. The company will also inaugurate LCT3, a programming initiative devoted to the work of emerging playwrights, directors and designers. LCT3's first production, Clay, a one-man, hip-hop musical written and performed by Matt Sax and directed by Eric Rosen, will begin a five week engagement on October 6 at the Duke on 42nd Street.