Bedford is an acknowledged master of Moliere. He appeared to great acclaim (he was Tony nommed for Best Leading Actor in a Play) at the Roundabout in The Moliere Comedies in 1995. He has also acted in Broadway productions of The Misanthrope and The School for Wives. His most recent New York gig, also at the Roundabout, was in London Assurance, for which he also won a Tony nomination.
Bedford's varied, but largely classical resume, also includes The Knack, Two Shakespearean Actors, The Seven Descents of Myrtle, Five Finger Exercise, The School for Scandal (Tony Award), and countless credits at the Stratford Festival of Canada.
Also in the cast are J. Smith-Cameron (who acted in the 1999 Central Park rendition of the play) as Dorine, John Bedford Lloyd as Cleante (replacing the previously announced Michael Emerson), Jeffrey Carlson as Valere, T.R. Knight as Damis, Kathryn Meisle as Elmire, Bryce Dallas Howard as Mariane, Rosaleen Linehan as Madame Pernelle and Philip Goodwin as Mons. Loyal.
Meisle plays the wife of the deluded Orgon (Bedford) and the prey of the hypocritical title zealot (Goodman). Smith Cameron is a sharp tongued maid who tries to warn everybody about the fraud in their midst.
Smith-Cameron was last seen in Douglas Carter Beane's Music from a Sparkling Planet Off-Broadway. She also starred, to great acclaim and a few awards, in Beane's As Bees in Honey Drown. Other recent credits include Fuddy Meers and The Memory of Water (both at Manhattan Theatre Club). Her last Broadway role was in Night Must Fall. Henry Goodman, is, of course, the former Max Bialystock of Broadway's The Producers. Last spring, the respected British actor was announced with much ballyhoo as the man who would step into Nathan Lane's Tony winning shoes in The Producers. The actor took over as Max on March 19 and was due to open in the show in early May. He was terminated from the job following the Sunday, April 14, 2002, matinee performance, informed of the decision by his London agent over the phone. Since then, he has bounced back in Follies at the Royal Festival Hall. Goodman previously acted on Broadway in Art.
Both Goodman and Bedford are English, though Bedford has long resided in North America.
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