Sharon Gless has bowed out of the Aug. 14-26 staging of The Lion in Winter at the Cape Playhouse of Dennis, MA. The "Cagney & Lacey" star was recently cast in the new cable series "Queer as Folk" (based on the controversial English program), and filming will preclude her honoring her Cape commitment. Taking her place in the James Goldman play is Dee Hoty.
Still in the cast is Randall Duk Kim, as Henry II, King of England. Kim's recent theatre credits include David Henry Hwang's Golden Child on Broadway and A Majority of One Off Broadway.
Hoty has been nominated for a Tony for The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public, The Will Rogers Follies and Footloose, her most recent credit.
One of the oldest and last of the New England summer stock theatres , The Cape Playhouse is currently getting a visit from Jeff Baron's comedy, Visiting Mr. Green, through July 29.
In Mr. Green, the title character, an elderly, retired gentleman is run down by 29-year-old gay executive, Ross Gardiner. As punishment, Gardiner is forced to serve community service with the old man for six months. In that time, the two move from comically hating one another to a deep and loving friendship. The work premiered in New York City a couple seasons back, with Eli Wallach in the title role. It has since become a popular staple for regional theatres nationwide.
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"Cagney and Lacey" star Gless appeared in Claudia Allen's world-premiere showbiz comedy, Cahoots, at the Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago this past spring. Gless is no stranger to the stage, having starred with Tom Conti in Neil Simon's Chapter Two at the Gielgud Theater in London, with Bill Paterson in a stage version of Stephen King's Misery at the Criterion Center in London, and opposite Kim Hunter in Lillian Hellman's Watch on the Rhine at the StageWest Theater in Massachusetts.
The 2000 summer season schedule runs as follows:
• Visiting Mr. Green by Jeff Baron, July 17-29
• The Will Rogers Follies, July 31-Aug. 12
• The Lion in Winter by James Goldman, Aug. 14-26
• Radio Gals, by Mike Craver and Mark Hardwick, Aug. 28-Sept. 9
2000 marks new Cape Playhouse artistic director Evans Haile's first season. Haile conceived and staged 1995's Yes, There Were Giants and 1999's Broadway's Best Sing Gershwin, seen at both the Cape and Ogunquit Playhouses. The Dennis theatre was founded in 1927.
For more information, call (508) 385-3911.
-- By Robert Simonson
