Readings and WorkshopsOriginal Sweeney Todd Star Ken Jennings Will Play Walter Winchell in Reading of New MusicalTony Sportiello and Al Tapper penned The Paparazzi, about newspaper columnist and personality Walter Winchell.
By
Andrew Gans
August 28, 2017
Ken Jennings
Joseph Marzullo/WENN
Broadway veteran Ken Jennings, who created the role of Tobias in the original production of Sweeney Todd, will play legendary newspaper columnist and radio personality Walter Winchell in a September 18 industry reading of the musical The Paparazzi.
The reading of the new musical, which has a book by Tony Sportiello, music and lyrics by Al Tapper, and music direction by David Wolfson, will be presented at 3 PM at The Davenport Theatre on West 45th Street.
Jennings will be joined by Abe Goldfarb, Brian Demar Jones, Laura Kaldis, Lindsay Lavin, Michael Linden, Kelli Maguire, Michael McIntyre, and Nathan Oesterle.
Jennings, who stars as the ghost of Winchell, narrates the cautionary tale of Christie Barnes (Erica Lustig), an ambitious young journalist who yearns to write for the New York Times but instead finds herself at the New York Beacon, a tabloid run by the mercurial Mike Peterson (Spencer Plachy).
Jennings has also been in the Broadway productions of Urinetown, Side Show, A Christmas Carol, Grand Hotel, London Assurance, Present Laughter, and All God’s Chillun Got Wings. He won the 1979 Drama Desk Award as Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical for his role in Sweeney Todd.
The reading is produced by Algonquin Theater Productions. Casting is by Wojcik/Seay.
