Musical Version of Vanities Headed for Second Stage
The long-talked-about musical adaptation of Jack Heifner’s comedy hit Vanities is headed for Second Stage Theatre this summer. The show will begin previews on June 30 and open on July 16, directed by Judith Ivey, with musical staging by Dan Knechtges. Vanities replaces the previously announced Mr. and Mrs. Fitch by Douglas Carter Beane, which has been postponed “due to a scheduling conflict.”
Vanities will star Lauren Kennedy, Sarah Stiles and Anneliese van der Pol, all of whom had been set for a Broadway production of the show that was to open in February but was cancelled because of the economy. Based on Heifner's hit 1976 comedy, which ran for 1,785 performances off-Broadway, Vanities is a funny, sexy and poignant look at the journey of three all-American girls as they mature from cheerleaders to sorority sisters in the 1960s to independent women in the late 1980s.The show features a book by Heifner and a score by David Kirshenbaum Summer of '42, Party Come Here.
Kennedy Mary most recently appeared on Broadway as the Lady of the Lake in Monty Python's Spamalot. Her Broadway credits include Sunset Boulevard, Side Show and Les Miserables and the New York City Opera production of Cinderella. She played Nellie Forbush in Trevor Nunn's London revival of South Pacific at the Royal National Theatre and starred opposite Val Kilmer in The Ten Commandments at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.
Stiles Joanne played her role in Theatreworks Palo Alto production of Vanities and has appeared on Broadway in Avenue Q and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and in the national tour of Titanic. She toured with Tommy Tune in the Polynesian production of Dr. Dolittle. Her off-Broadway credits include Captain Louie.
Van der Pol Kathy made her Broadway debut in 2007 as the final Belle in Beauty and the Beast and starred for six years of the popular Disney Channel show That's So Raven as Chelsea Daniels. Theater credits include Eva Peron in Evita Buena Park Civic Theatre and Laurey in Oklahoma! Austin Musical Theatre. Dance roles include Clara in The Nutcracker and the title role in Coppelia Southern California Dance Theater.
The musical version of Vanities was originally produced at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto in the summer of 2006 and was awarded two Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Musical Production and Best Original Score. It was also showcased at the 2006 National Alliance for Musical Theatre NAMT Festival of New Musicals and was most recently seen at Pasadena Playhouse in August 2008.
The Second Stage production will feature set design by Anna Louizos, costume design by Joe Aulisi, lighting design by Paul Miller, and sound design by Tony Meola. Music Director is Bryan Perri, vocal arrangements by Carmel Dean, and orchestrations are by Lynne Shankel.
