UPDATED: American Idol‘s Crystal Bowersox and Annette O’Toole to Star in Broadway Premiere of Always…Patsy Cline

UPDATED – Academy Award nominee Annette O’Toole (Off-Broadway’s Southern Comfort) will join American Idol finalist Crystal Bowersox in the upcoming Broadway premiere of Ted Swindley’s Always…Patsy Cline. The production, to be directed by Tony Award winner John Rando (It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman), will begin performances in July at a theater to be announced. Scenic design will be by Anna Louizos (Cinderella).

O’Toole will take on the role of Louise Seger, Patsy Cline’s most devoted fan. On stage, O’Toole has appeared in Heresy, Southern Comfort, Kindness, and The Seagull. Her television credits include the series’ Nash Bridges, Boy Meets World, the HBO screen presentation of the stage drama Vanities, and the long-running series Smallville, on which she portrayed Martha Kent. On screen, she has been seen in 48 HRS, Cat People, and Superman III. With her husband, the actor/writer Michael McKean, O’Toole received an Academy Award nomination for the song “A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow,” from the film A Mighty Wind.

February 9 – Country singer Crystal Bowersox will be the latest American Idol runner up to hit the Great White Way when she stars in a revival of Ted Swindley’s Always…Patsy Cline, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The play with music is expected to open in summer 2013, though no additional information has been released about the production’s timeline.

Bowersox, who took second place in the ninth season of the reality singing competition, released her debut album, Farmer’s Daughter, in 2010, and received a Teen Choice Award nomination. Her second album will be released in March 2013. She has also appeared on an episode of the ABC medical procedural, Body of Proof.

With a book by Swindley (The Honky Tonk Angels) and a score that includes Cline’s songs “Crazy,” “Sweet Dreams,” and “I Fall to Pieces,” Always…Patsy Cline explores the real-life friendship between the popular singer and her biggest fan, Louise Seger. The musical had its world premiere in 1990 and played an engagement off-Broadway in 1997, which starred Tori Lynn Palazola (The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas) and Margo Martindale (Justified). It is widely regarded as one of the most frequently produced shows in America.