
(© David Gordon, Joseph Marzullo, Tristan Fuge)
Set in the 1920s and featuring existing music of the period, Bullets Over Broadway tells the story of David Shayne (Braff), an aspiring young playwright who, in order to get his work produced, must cast Olive Neal (Yorke), the talentless girlfriend of mobster Nick Valenti (Pastore). Wolfe will play Ellen, David’s girlfriend, with Ashmanskas as leading man Warner Purcell and Wolpe as Julian Marx. Additional casting for the principal roles and ensemble will be announced in the coming months.
For the stage adaptation, Allen adapts the screenplay he co-wrote with Douglas McGrath. The creative team includes Santo Loquasto (scenic design), William Ivey Long (costume design), Donald Holder (lighting design), Doug Besterman (orchestrations), Glen Kelly (musical arrangements and supervision), and Peter Hylenski (sound design). Producers are Letty Aronson and Julian Schlossberg.
The original 1994 film featured John Cusack as David Shayne, Jennifer Tilly as Olive Neal, Joe Viterelli as Nick Valenti, Jim Broadbent as Warner Purcell, Mary-Louise Parker as Ellen, Jack Warden as Julian Marx, Chazz Palminteri as Cheech, and Dianne Wiest, who won an Academy Award for her performance as leading lady Helen Sinclair.