Kismet - further casting announced
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
BROADWAY star Faith Prince will make her London stage debut playing Lalume opposite Michael Ball’s Hajj/Poet in the English National Opera’s staging of Kismet, which runs for just 19 performances – June 27 (previews from June 25) to July 14, 2007 – at the London Coliseum.
In 1992, Prince won a Tony Award for her portrayal of Miss Adelaide in the musical Guys and Dolls. Her other New York credits – for which she was Tony nominated – include Bells Are Ringing and Jerome Robbins’ Broadway.
On screen she has appeared in Spin City, Huff and House (TV); and Our Very Own, Material Girls, Dave and My Father the Hero (film).
The 130-strong company (cast and orchestra) also includes Donald Maxwell (Imam), Sarah Tynan (Marsinah), Alfie Boe (the Caliph’), Julian Curry (Jawan), Graeme Danby (Wazir) and Rodney Clark (chief of police).
Previously Posted: Henry Goodman and Michael Ball are to make their English National Opera debuts at the London Coliseum – Goodman in The Gondoliers, Ball in Kismet.
The Gondoliers by Gilbert and Sullivan will run from November 18 to November 27, 2006, with Geoffrey Dolton as the Duke of Plazatoro; and from March 6 to March 29, 2007 (for seven performances only) with Goodman in the role.
Goodman’s numerous London stage credits include The Birthday Party, Art, Guys and Dolls, Angels in America, Follies, Chicago, The Merchant of Venice and Assassins. For the latter two, he won Olivier Awards.
He was seen most recently in Brian Friel’s Performances (Wilton’s Music Hall), The Hypochondriac (Almeida) and The Exonerated (Riverside Studios).
Goodman will also play Russian milkman Tevye in Lindsay Posner’s revival of Fiddler on the Roof which runs from December 5, 2006 to January 20, 2007, at Sheffield Crucible.
Kismet premiered on Broadway in 1953 and two years later, opened at the Stoll Theatre in London. That same year, Vincente Minnelli directed the Hollywood film version with Howard Keel in the role of Hajj/Poet, the part that now goes to Ball.
Inspired by the Arabian Nights, Kismet follows the remarkable changes of fortune that engulf a poor poet during one incredible day when Kismet (Fate) takes a hand.
The new production runs from June 27 to July 14, 2007 (for 19 performances only) – the first time ENO has scheduled a consecutive run of performances.
Ball made his West End debut in 1985 when he originated the role of Marius in Les Miserables. This was followed by The Phantom of the Opera, Aspects of Love and more recently, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Woman in White.
Kismet will be directed by Gary Griffin who won an Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production for his 2003 production of Pacific Overtures at the Donmar Warehouse.
Also scheduled for next year – from April 23 to May 25, 2007 (for 20 performances) – is Leonard Bernstein’s 1944 musical On the Town.