Australia’s Caroline O’Connor returns to Broadway

It was announced yesterday that Australia’s darling of the stage, that powerful dynamite Caroline O’Connor, will be bidding farewell to the UK’s theatre scene to star on Broadway later this year.

O’Connor, who is recognised as one of Australia’s brightest musical theatre stars, will join a formidable cast of Broadway regulars in Prince Of Broadway, the new musical celebrating legendary Broadway director and producer Harold “Hal” Prince.

Opening in November 2012, at a theatre yet-to-be-announced, the production will be directed by 21-time Tony Award winner Harold Prince and co-directed and choreographed by 5-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman.

The show will look at the circumstances and fortune, both good and bad, that led to Hal Prince creating some of the most enduring and beloved theatre of all time. Prince has worked in the American Theatre world for the last 60 years, on shows such as The Pajama Game, West Side Story, Fiorello!, Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Evita, and The Phantom of the Opera, the longest-running show in Broadway history.

Caroline O’Connor is currently performing the coveted role of Mama Rose in Gypsy at Leicester’s Curve Theatre until April 15.

Prior to that, critics sang her praises for her portrayal of Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris. Legendary Sweeney Todd composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim declared her the best Mrs Lovett he had ever heard after watching her opening night performance in April 2011.

On her twitter account today, O’Connor told her fans:

Hal Prince called me to ask me to be in the show! So humbled. Can’t wait

“And just to sound like a name-dropper… 😉 Hal Prince called me to ask me to be in the show! So humbled. Can’t wait xx”

Joining Caroline O’Connor in the cast will be:

• Tony Award winner Linda Lavin (The Lyons, Collected Stories)
• Sebastian Arcelus (Elf, Jersey Boys)
• Sierra Boggess (Master Class, The Little Mermaid)
• Tony Award nominee Daniel Breaker (Shrek the Musical, Passing Strange)
• Josh Grisetti (Enter Laughing, the Musical; After the Ball)
• Tony Award winner Shuler Hensley (Young Frankenstein, Oklahoma!)
• Richard Kind (The Producers, “Spin City”)
• Amanda Kloots-Larsen (Follies – 2011)
• Tony Award winner LaChanze (The Color Purple, Once on this Island)
• Tony Award nominee David Pittu (Is He Dead?, Lovemusik)
• Tony Award nominee Emily Skinner (Billy Elliot, Side Show)

The show will be produced by Aubrey Dan, Martyn Hayes and Peter W. Lamb for Dancap Productions Inc.

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