Theater News

Annie Golden, Candy Buckley, Eartha Kitt, et al. to Star in Mimi le Duck

Annie Golden(© Michael Portantiere)
Annie Golden
(© Michael Portantiere)

Annie Golden, Candy Buckley, Robert DuSold, Allen Fitzpatrick, Ken Jennings, Marcus Neville, and Eartha Kitt will star in Mimi le Duck, a “nouveau musical” that is scheduled to begin performances Off-Broadway at New World Stages on October 11 and to open officially on October 31.

The show has music by Brian Feinstein, book and lyrics by Diana Hansen-Young. It will be directed by Thomas Caruso, with musical staging by Matt West. The design team is headed by John Arnone (sets), Ann Hould-Ward (costumes), and David Lander (lighting). Chris Fenwick is the production’s musical supervisor and orchestrator.

Mimi le Duck tells the tale of Miriam (Annie Golden), a discontented Mormon housewife from Ketchum, Idaho who packs her bags and moves to Paris, leaving behind her husband and her successful career as a painter of duck canvases for the QVC Network. The musical had its world premiere at the Adirondack Theatre Festival and its New York premiere at the Fringe Festival, both in the summer of 2004.

Golden, who most recently appeared on Broadway in The Full Monty, is probably best known for her performance of Jeannie in the film version of Hair. Buckley has appeared on Broadway in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Cabaret, and Ring ‘Round the Moon, and Off-Broadway in such shows as The Petrified Prince, Defying Gravity, and Communicating Doors. DuSold played major roles in Broadway and national touring productions of Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Show Boat, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and Evita. Among Fitzpatrick’s many New Yok theater credits are 42nd Street, Les Misérables, and The Scarlet Pimpernel.

Jennings created the role of Tobias in the original production of Sweeney Todd and has subsequently been seen on Broadway in such shows as Grand Hotel, Side Show, and Urinetown. Neville played Harold in The Full Monty and also appeared on Broadway in City of Angels; his other New York theater credits include the Encores! production of L’il Abner and the Rainbow and Stars revue I Love New York.

Kitt, a theater and cabaret legend, made her Broadway debut in New Faces of 1952, then went on to star in such shows as Shinbone Alley, The Owl and the Pussycat, TImbuktu, and The Wild Party. Among the films in which she has appeared are Boomerang, St. Louis Blues (with Nat King Cole), Anna Lucasta (with Sammy Davis, Jr.), and the Isaac Mizrahi documentary Unzipped. Kitt played the Catwoman in the wildly popular Batman television series of the 1960s and subsequently appeared in such shows as The Nanny and Living Single. She is the author of three autobiographies.