All but Bonds, who was Freddy in the national tour of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, were featured in the musical's summer 2006 world premiere at TheaterWorks in Hartford, CT. The show's conceiver Rob Ruggiero will again direct the collection of songs from Tony Award-winning composer-lyricist Finn's career — trunk songs, obscure songs and some of his greatest hits from Falsettos. Ruggiero is one of the minds behind the regional hit Ella, about Ella Fitzgerald.
Bonds takes on the role created in Connecticut by Joe Cassidy, who is now in the cast of the Broadway-aimed musical A Tale of Two Cities, bowing this fall in Florida. He plays Ernest Defarge.
Darren Cohen will be at the piano and is musical director. Michael Morris is music supervisor.
Binion appeared in Broadway's Jane Eyre, Wilfert has toured with Finn's The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and Heller is a character man who has bit into juicy roles, including Charlie in the York Theatre Company's revival of Merrily We Roll Along.
Make Me a Song previews will begin Oct. 30 at New World Stages toward a Nov. 12 opening. The show is produced by Junkyard Dog Productions and Larry Hirschhorn in association with Jayson Raitt. *
Finn is the two–time Tony Award winner for the groundbreaking musical Falsettos, currently represented on Broadway with The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Make Me a Song features classics from these shows as well as selections from Romance in Hard Times, Elegies and the yet to be produced The Royal Family.
Director Ruggiero has been the associate artistic director at TheaterWorks in Hartford for 13 years, and has directed over 30 productions there, including The Exonerated and the highly successful Ella (also co-conception) starring Tina Fabrique. His work has been seen at a number of other regional theatres including Pittsburgh Public Theater, Barrington Stage Company, and The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, where he directed the critically acclaimed production of Take Me Out, which won four Kevin Kline Awards, including one for Best Director of a Play.
