A spokesperson for Cerveris confirmed to Playbill On-Line that the actor, who will also star opposite Patti LuPone and Audra McDonald in the Ravinia staging of Passion (Aug. 22 and 23), has taken over the role of Czech painter Oskar Kokoschka. The remainder of the cast of the Michael Korie/Scott Frankel musical includes "Frasier" star David Hyde Pierce; another Titanic alum, Judith Blazer; and 42nd Street's Mary Testa. Directed by Lonny Price, Doll concerns the life of Alma Mahler, the 19th-century woman who famously fascinated—and married—three great men of the time: composer Gustav Mahler, architect Walter Gropius and novelist and poet Franz Werfel ("The Song of Bernadette"). The show was workshopped at Lincoln Center last season. The play specifically deals with Mahler and her love affair with painter Kokoschka in pre-war Vienna.
Michael Cerveris received a Tony Award nomination for his performance in the title role of The Who's Tommy, a part he also played for two years in Germany. Cerveris originated the role of architect Thomas Andrews in the Tony-winning musical Titanic and also appeared onstage in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Total Eclipse, Abingdon Square and Life Is a Dream.
Doll will play the Ravinia's Bennett-Gordon Hall Sept. 2 and 3 at 8 PM. The Ravinia theatre is located in Highland Park, IL; for more information, go to www.ravinia.org.