The romantic comedy Parfumerie, adapted by E.P. Dowdall from the Hungarian play Illatszertar by Miklos Laszlo, will have a rare revival as the first theater production of the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (Lou Moore, Executive Director), for a limited, 29 performance engagement November 26 to December 22. The production, directed by Mark Brokaw, who is currently represented on Broadway with Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, centers on a romance that unfolds through love letters, a perfect homage to the historic Beverly Hills Post Office. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!
Set during Christmastime, 1937 in Budapest Hungary, the play centers around two bickering employees at an upscale boutique, who have been building an anonymous romantic relationship through letters to one another for two years. This popular comedy has been a favorite in Europe, but is rarely seen in the United States. Written by Hungarian émigré
Miklos Laszlo, Parfumerie's charming plot has been adapted to film several times, including The Shop Around the Corner, In the Good Old Summertime, and You've Got Mail, and as the Broadway musical She Loves Me.
The cast of Parfumerie is lead by
Richard Schiff (Toby Ziegler on "The West Wing"),
Eddie Kaye Thomas (American Dad, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas), Deborah
Ann Woll (Jessica Hamby on "True Blood") and
Arye Gross (TV: Castle, Six Feet Under).
The cast also includes
Cheryl Lynn Bowers (world premieres of
Adam Rapp,
Steve Martin plays);
Adam Farabee (Berkeley Rep The Lieutenant of Inishmore SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Award); Andy Goldenberg (films: Jack and Jill, Austin and Ally);
Linda Griffin (Broadway: The Drowsy Chaperone; tour: A Chorus Line; 42nd Street, LA: Beauty and the Beast), Jacob Kemp (
Signature Theatre Greenwood; Yale), Jackson Moran (
Pearl Theatre Company,
Yale Repertory Theatre);
Tony Pasqualini (South Coast Rep,
Seattle Rep, Intiman, Mad Men, "Law and Order," "West Wing");
Ariana Shore (Broadway:The Performers); Jayne Taini (TV: "Ave 43," "Mad Men," "ER");
Jill Van Velzer (
Pasadena Playhouse The Heiress, alsoThe Matchmaker, Harvey, Boeing Boeing, She Loves Me); and
Matt Walton (off-B'way Berger in Hair; "One Life to Live," "All My Children").
The English language Parfumerie had its premiere in 2009 with the
Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, in a new adaptation by E.P. Dowdall, Laszlo's nephew, which took the property back to its original form exploring with equal emphasis, both the story of the young lovers as well as the troubled marriage of the shop owner. It has also been produced by the Toronto Soulpepper Theatre Company. Laszlo's screenplay Katherine became the 1948 MGM film The Big City starring Margaret O'Brien,
Robert Preston,
Danny Thomas and
George Murphy. His play St. Lazar's Pharmacyreceived an American production, starring actress
Miriam Hopkins; Pharmacy toured all over the United States in Canada.
Tickets, $49.00-$129.00, can be purchased online at
www.thewallis.org, by calling 310-746-4000 or in person at the Wallis
Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts box office at 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd.,
Beverly Hills.
Photo Credit: Jim Cox
