Manhattan Theatre Club has announced that it will produce the world premiere of The Portuguese Kid, a new play written and directed by Tony, Pulitzer Prize, and Academy Award winner John Patrick Shanley. The production, which joins the theatre’s upcoming 2017-2018 season, will feature Seinfeld star and Tony winner Jason Alexander.
The Portuguese Kid will begin previews September 19 ahead of an October 24 opening Off-Broadway at MTC at New York City Center – Stage I, located at 131 West 55th Street.
In what is billed as a feisty romantic comedy, Alexander will play a second-rate lawyer from Providence named Barry Dragonetti. The story follows habitually widowed Atalanta as she attempts to settle her latest husband's affairs.
“This larger-than-life Greek tightwad quickly becomes a nightmare for her cheesy, self-aggrandizing attorney,” read production notes from MTC. “Add Barry's impossible Croatian mother, a dash of current politics and a couple of opportunistic young lovers, and you have in hand a recipe for comic combustion.”
A reading of the new play took place at MTC in March 2016 featuring Alexander, Debra Messing, Andy Karl, and Anna Camp. Further casting for the world premiere, along with a creative team and other listings information will be announced at a later date.
Alexander returns to the stage following his 2015 Broadway turn in Larry David’s Fish in the Dark. He made his Broadway debut in Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along and received a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Jerome Robbins’ Broadway. His film credits include Pretty Woman, Love! Valour! Compassion!, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Shanley is the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Doubt and Outside Mullingar, as well as the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Moonstruck.
New and renewing subscribers can join MTC by calling (212) 399-3050. Single ticket information will be announced at a later date.
LOVE THEATRE? CHECK OUT THE NEW ARRIVALS AT THE PLAYBILL STORE!
