Roundabout Theatre Company announces a new Broadway production of HOLIDAY INN

ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY

In association with UNIVERSAL STAGE PRODUCTIONS

Announces A New Broadway Production

HOLIDAY INN

Music & Lyrics by IRVING BERLIN

Book by GORDON GREENBERG & CHAD HODGE

Choreography by DENIS JONES

Directed by GORDON GREENBERG

Inspired by the Academy Award-winning film, Holiday Inn

Performances begin September 1, 2016

Official opening October 13, 2016

On Broadway at Studio 54

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director), in association with Universal Stage Productions, is pleased to announce the first-ever Broadway production of HOLIDAY INN, THE NEW IRVING BERLIN MUSICAL. With music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, Gordon Greenberg and Chad Hodge’s new book is inspired by the Academy Award-winning film, Holiday Inn.

Directed by Gordon Greenberg and choreographed by Denis Jones, Holiday Inn, The New Irving Berlin Musical will begin preview performances on September 1, 2016, and open officially on October 13, 2016, on Broadway at Studio 54 (254 West 54th Street). This will be a limited engagement.

“I went to see a workshop of Holiday Inn with no idea what to expect and left with a huge smile on my face,” notes Roundabout Artistic Director Todd Haimes. “The energy and joy of this show are just infectious. With a great new libretto and show-stopping choreography, the show has a wonderful freshness, yet those timeless Irving Berlin songs also make it feel like a classic. That combination is irresistible - I think our audience is going to absolutely love it. Roundabout is better known for reinventing classics like She Loves Me and Cabaret, but to me Holiday Inn feels like a chance to reimagine some of the greatest songs in the American songbook in an incredibly fun, romantic, and inventive way.”

The new musical features over 20 classic songs from the Irving Berlin catalogue including “Steppin’ Out With My Baby,” “Shaking the Blues Away,” “Easter Parade,” “Cheek to Cheek” and “Heatwave.”

Holiday Inn, The New Irving Berlin Musical tells the story of Jim, who leaves the bright lights of show business behind to settle down on his farmhouse in Connecticut. He quickly discovers life isn’t the same without a bit of song and dance. Jim’s luck takes a spectacular turn when he meets Linda, a spirited schoolteacher with talent to spare. Together they turn the farmhouse into a fabulous inn with dazzling performances to celebrate each holiday, from Thanksgiving to the Fourth of July. But when Jim’s best friend Ted tries to lure Linda away to be his new dance partner in Hollywood, will Jim be able to salvage his latest chance at love?

Casting and additional creative team will be announced at a later date.

Holiday Inn benefits from Roundabout’s Musical Theatre Fund with lead gifts from The Howard Gilman Foundation and Perry and Marty Granoff.

Holiday Inn was originally developed at Goodspeed Opera House, one of the country’s most respected nonprofit institutions.

TICKET INFORMATION:

Holiday Inn, The New Irving Berlin Musical is first made available to subscribers and donors. Whether you are interested in the best value or VIP experiences, Roundabout has a package option for you. Visit roundabouttheatre.org or call 212-719-1300 for more info. Sign up for Roundabout’s email club at roundabouttheatre.org to be notified when tickets go on sale to the public.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:

Holiday Inn, The New Irving Berlin Musical will play Tuesday through Saturday evening at 8:00PM with Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00PM.

BIOS:

IRVING BERLIN (Music & Lyrics). Born Israel Beilin in a Russian Jewish shtetl in 1888, he died as Irving Berlin in his adopted hometown of New York City in 1989. Songwriter, performer, theatre owner, music publisher, and soldier, he wrote scores to more than a dozen Broadway musicals including Annie Get Your Gun, and dozens of Hollywood movie musicals. Holiday Inn follows White Christmas and the London production of Top Hat in creating stage musicals based on his famous films. His more than 1,200 songs include “White Christmas,” “Puttin' on the Ritz,” “Easter Parade,” “Always,” “Blue Skies.” “Cheek to Cheek,” “There's No Business Like Show Business,” “Alexander's Ragtime Band,” and “God Bless America.” Irving Berlin's love for and generosity to the USA is exemplified by his establishing the God Bless America Fund, into which he places all royalties from the song, which have been donated over the years to the Boy and Girl Scouts. His numerous awards and accolades include an Academy Award for White Christmas, a Congressional Gold Medal, a special Tony Award, and commemoration on a US postage stamp.

GORDON GREENBERG (Director/ Co-Book Writer) has directed plays and musicals at major theatres across America and the U.K. including Williamstown, Old Globe, Paper Mill, Signature, Goodspeed, Huntington, Dallas Theatre Center, Asolo, New York Stage & Film, and Chichester, written for television and stage, and runs the musical theatre program at The New Group. His acclaimed revival of Guys And Dolls opens on the West End at the Savoy Theatre in December, 2015. It premiered at the Chichester Festival Theatre, where The Week called it "A triumphant…exhilarating staging of a golden age musical," Charles Spencer of The Telegraph wrote, "I left the theater walking on air and with a grin of pure happiness on my face…One hell of an evening," and Dominic Maxwell of The London Times wrote, "Gordon Greenberg's production leaves the whole audience purring with pleasure. He directed and adapted (with Stephen Schwartz and Lin-Manuel Miranda) the Drama Desk Award winning revised production of Working at the Old Globe, Broadway Playhouse in Chicago and 59 E 59 in New York – and the acclaimed New York revival of Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well… (Drama Desk, Drama League, Outer Critics Award noms). Other work includes Johnny Baseball for Williamstown Theatre Festival, Scramble Band (writer), a Disney Channel original movie musical, Rags for Roundabout (workshop), Stars of David (by Jeanine Tesori, Tom Kitt, Michael Freidman, etc.) for Daryl Roth, Pirates! Or Gilbert and Sullivan Plunder’d (created with Nell Benjamin) for Paper Mill, Goodspeed, Huntington, MUNY, Band Geeks! (co-writer) for Goodspeed, The Baker's Wife (revised with Stephen Schwartz) for Goodspeed and Paper Mill, Disney’s Believe (created with Kirsten Childs) for Disney Creative, Disney Fantasy Christening (with Neil Patrick Harris & Jerry Seinfeld), 1776 (Paper Mill), Floyd Collins (Signature), Happy Days, A New Musical (First National Tour), Theory of Three (NY Stage & Film), We The People (Lortel nom), 33 Variations (Capital Rep), and Cam Jansen (by Larry O’Keefe & Nell Benjamin (Lambs). Current projects include The Secret of My Success for Universal (Director/co-writer), Tangled for Disney (Director), The Single Girls Guide for the Fifth Avenue in Seattle (Writer), The Heart Of Rock & Roll, the Huey Lewis Musical (Director), Port-Au-Prince (writing with Kirsten Childs for The New Group), and co-writing a new movie musical for Nickelodeon Television. Born in Texas and raised in New York, Greenberg performed in his first Broadway show at age 12. He attended Stanford University, R.A.D.A., and NYU Film School and is a member of the Stage Directors & Choreographers Society, The Writers Guild of America, The Dramatists Guild, Ars Nova founding member, and the Lincoln Center Theatre Directors Lab.

CHAD HODGE (Co-Book). Hodge created and executive-produced this summer’s FOX series “Wayward Pines” based on the novel by Blake Crouch, starring Academy Award nominee Matt Dillon and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Hodge most recently created and wrapped production on the pilot of “Good Behavior” for TNT, starring Michelle Dockery. He created NBC’s “The Playboy Club” starring Laura Benanti, and The CW’s “Runaway” starring Donnie Wahlberg. Hodge grew up in Chicago and graduated magna cum laude from Northwestern University with degrees in Communication Studies and Business Institutions. Hodge co-wrote the book for the stage adaptation of Irving Berlin’s 1942 movie-musical classic Holiday Inn which starred Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby. Holiday Inn had its world premiere at the Goodspeed Opera House in 2014 where it became the longest-running musical in Goodspeed’s 51-year history and received the Connecticut Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical. Film projects include The Darkest Minds for 20th Century Fox, based on the New York Times bestselling trilogy by Alexandra Bracken, and Anita, about the notorious singer and orange juice spokeswoman Anita Bryant. Hodge lives in Los Angeles.

DENIS JONES (Choreographer). Recent credits include Honeymoon in Vegas (Broadway), Forum (Two River/ Williamstown Theatre Festival), Moonshine: That Hee Haw Musical (Dallas Theater Center), The Tempest (New York Shakespeare Festival) and Paint Your Wagon (NY City Center Encores!).

UNIVERSAL STAGE PRODUCTIONS (Producer) is the live theatre division of the world-famous motion picture studio. Universal’s record-breaking musical phenomenon Wicked recently celebrated its twelfth smash-hit year on Broadway. With a national tour and multiple international productions, Wicked has been seen by more than 42 million people worldwide, making it one of the most successful theatrical ventures of all time. In 2008, Universal’s critically acclaimed musical adaptation of Billy Elliot opened on Broadway and went on to win ten Tony® Awards including Best Musical. It recently celebrated its tenth year on London’s West End. Universal also produced the Tony®-nominated Broadway production of Bring It On: The Musical, the acclaimed revival of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, and is actively involved in the development of new work with many of the nation’s leading non-profit theatres.

Roundabout Theatre Company is committed to producing the highest quality theatre with the finest artists, sharing stories that endure, and providing accessibility to all audiences. A not-for-profit company, Roundabout fulfills its mission each season through the production of classic plays and musicals; development and production of new works by established and emerging writers; educational initiatives that enrich the lives of children and adults; and a subscription model and audience outreach programs that cultivate and engage all audiences.

Roundabout Theatre Company presents a variety of plays, musicals, and new works on its five stages, each of which is specifically designed to enhance the needs of Roundabout’s mission. Off-Broadway, the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, which houses the Laura Pels Theatre and Black Box Theatre, with its simple sophisticated design, is perfectly suited to showcasing new plays. The grandeur of its Broadway home on 42nd Street, American Airlines Theatre, sets the ideal stage for the classics. Roundabout’s Studio 54 provides an exciting and intimate Broadway venue for its musical and special event productions. The Stephen Sondheim Theatre offers a state of the art LEED certified Broadway theatre in which to stage major large-scale musical revivals. Together these distinctive homes serve to enhance Roundabout’s work on each of its stages.

American Airlines is the official airline of Roundabout Theatre Company. Roundabout productions are supported, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Roundabout Theatre Company’s 50th Anniversary Season celebrates the company’s numerous accomplishments and vision for the future with bold new productions of classic plays, a revival of the Roundabout’s first musical, and new work by some of the country’s most exciting young talent. Founded in 1965, Roundabout Theatre Company has grown from a small 150-seat theatre in a converted Chelsea supermarket basement to become one of the nation’s most influential not-for-profit theatre companies, as well as one of New York City’s leading cultural institutions. Roundabout has been recognized with 29 Tonys, 41 Drama Desks, 50 Outer Critics Circle, 10 Obie and 15 Lucille Lortel Awards for its work on five stages, reaching more than 700,000 theatergoers and employing hundreds of artists each year. Bank of America is a proud 50th Anniversary Season sponsor – a partnership that makes possible Roundabout’s many productions and not-for-profit initiatives during this landmark year.

Roundabout’s 50th anniversary season in 2015-2016 includes: Clive Owen, Eve Best and Kelly Reilly in Old Times by Harold Pinter, directed by Douglas Hodge; The Humans by Stephen Karam, directed by Joe Mantello; Keira Knightley, Gabriel Ebert, Matt Ryan and Judith Light in a new adaptation of Thérèse Raquin by Helen Edmundson, based upon the novel by Émile Zola, directed by Evan Cabnet; Andrea Martin, Campbell Scott, Tracee Chimo, Daniel Davis, David Furr, Kate Jennings Grant, Megan Hilty, Rob McClure and Jeremy Shamos in Noises Off by Michael Frayn, directed by Jeremy Herrin; Laura Benanti, Zachary Levi, René Auberjonois, Gavin Creel, Michael McGrath and Jane Krakowski in She Loves Me by Joe Masteroff, Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock, directed by Scott Ellis; The Robber Bridegroom by Alfred Uhry and Robert Waldman, directed by Alex Timbers; Jessica Lange, Gabriel Byrne, Michael Shannon and John Gallagher, Jr. in Long Day’s Journey Into Night by Eugene O’Neill, directed by Jonathan Kent. The 2015-2016 Roundabout Underground production is Ugly Lies the Bone, a new play by Lindsey Ferrentino, directed by Patricia McGregor.

Roundabout’s 2016-2017 season will include a new production of The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov with a new adaption by Stephen Karam, directed by Simon Godwin; and Love, Love, Love by Mike Bartlett, directed by Michael Mayer.

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