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Broadway veterans Debra Monk, Karen Ziemba, Jason Danieley, Noah Racey, Jill Paice, and Edward Hibbert will join previously announced star David Hyde Pierce in the world premiere production of the John Kander-Fred Ebb-Peter Stone-Rupert Holmes musical Curtains at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles, July 25-September 10. Directed by Scott Ellis and choreographed by Rob Ashford, the show will open officially on August 9.

Curtains is set in 1959 in Boston, during the pre-Broadway tryout of a new musical. When the leading lady dies mysteriously onstage during the applause at the end of the show, the entire company and creative team are possible suspects; their various motives must be sorted out by a local detective who happens to be a musical theater fan (to be played by Pierce).

Also featured in the cast are John Bolton, Michael X. Martin, Michael McCormick, Megan Sikora, and Robert Walden. The ensemble includes Nili Bassman, Ward Billeisen, Jennifer Dunne, David Eggers, J. Austin Eyer, Matt Farnsworth, Patty Goble, Mary Ann Lamb, Brittany Marcin, Jim Newman, Jessica Lea Patty, Joe Aaron Reid, Darcie Roberts, and Christopher Spaulding. The production design team includes Anna Louizos (sets), William Ivey Long (costumes), Peter Kaczorowski (lighting), Brian Ronan (sound), William David Brohn (orchestrations), and David Loud (music direction).

Kander worked closely with his songwriting partner Ebb and with Stone, an award-winning book writer, on the project for many year before their deaths; Holmes came in more recently to complete the book. The Ahmanson production of Curtains is likely to open on Broadway during the 2006-2007 season.