Nine

Based on the groundbreaking Italian film 8½, Nine takes it up (half) a notch by putting the surreal story to music. Famed director Guido Contini, suffering from “director’s block” on his latest film and from a strained marriage to the neglected Luisa, retreats into his mind, where a parade of women — lovers past and present — bombards his senses and throws reality into question. Suffused with a haunting score by Maury Yeston and book by Arthur Kopit, the Tony Award-winning musical blends genres and styles to explore love, rejection, how we love, and why we reject.

The production will star Steven Pasquale (The Bridges of Madison County, the Kennedy Center’s Guys and Dolls) as Guido Contini, Shereen Ahmed (My Fair Lady) as Claudia, three-time Tony Award nominee Carolee Carmello (1776, Parade) as Liliane La Fleur, Sasha Hutchings (Oklahoma!, Hamilton) as Our Lady of the Spa, Lesli Margherita (Matilda, Dames at Sea) as Saraghina, Academy Award and Tony Award nominee Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (Man of La Mancha, Scarface) as Guido’s Mother, Jen Sese (Hamilton, Hair) as Stephanie Necrophorus, Tony Award nominee Elizabeth Stanley (Jagged Little Pill, On The Town) as Luisa Contini, and Michelle Veintimilla (The Visit, Gotham) as Carla Albanese. Tony Award winner Andy Blankenbuehler (Hamilton, Bandstand, In the Heights) will direct.