Theater News

New Kander and Ebb Musical Won’t Visit the Public

Chita Rivera(Photo © Joseph Marzullo)
Chita Rivera
(Photo © Joseph Marzullo)

It has just been confirmed that the Public Theater’s scheduled New York premiere production of The Visit, the new musical with a score by John Kander and Fred Ebb and a book by Terrence McNally, has been canceled.

The show had its world premiere at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago in 2001. The Public Theater production was scheduled to open in February under the direction of Frank Galati (Ragtime), with choreography by Ann Reinking (Chicago). Chita Rivera (currently appearing on Broadway in Nine) and Frank Langella (most recently seen in Fortune’s Fool) were to have starred in the musical, which is based on Friedrich Duerrenmatt’s play about a woman who returns to the town of her birth with offers — and demands — for the bedraggled populace.

“Like most non-profit theatrical institutions,” reads a Public Theater statement on the matter, “we at times need enhancement money to enable us to produce work — and that was the situation with The Visit.” A publicist for the theater had no further comment on the cancellation, and a replacement for the production in the Public’s season has not yet been announced.