Closing out the 2019 fall Musicals in Mufti series celebrating Cole Porter is the 1940 musical Panama Hattie, with music and lyrics by Porter and a book by Herbert Fields and B.G. DeSylva.
Directed by Michael Montel with music direction by Deniz Cordell, performances are scheduled for October 26–November 3 at The York Theatre Company at Saint Peter’s.
Klea Blackhurst will star in the title role of Hattie Maloney, having previously paid tribute to Ethel Merman in the Mufti presentation of Happy Hunting and in her acclaimed solo show Everything the Traffic Will Allow.
She will be joined by Stephen Bogardus (Bright Star) as Nick Bullett, Simon Jones (Farinelli and The King) as Vivian Budd, David Green (Smiling the Boy Fell Dead at The York), Jay Aubrey Jones (Lolita, My Love at The York), Lael Van Keuren (Finding Neverland), Kylie Kuioka (The King and I), Garen McRoberts (Little House on the Prairie), Casey Shuler (Legally Blonde), Gordon Stanley (Dear World at The York), Joe Veale (Enter Laughing at The York), Zuri Washington (Sister Act), and Anita Welch (Little Rock).
Porter and Merman teamed up for their fourth hit with Panama Hattie, in which a brassy nightclub owner must bid for the approval of her fiancé’s family—a task only made more complicated when she discovers a plan to blow up the Panama Canal. Porter's score includes “Let’s Be Buddies,” “I've Still Got My Health,” and “Make It Another Old-Fashioned, Please.”
The production team includes production manager George Xenos, production stage manager Kimothy Cruse, and assistant stage manager Kirsten Leigh Williams. Casting is by Binder Casting: Chad Eric Murnane, CSA.
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