Bernadette Peters to Star in Kennedy Center's Follies

It was just announced today that Bernadette Peters will headline the upcoming Kennedy Center production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies as Sally Durant Plummer. As Sally, she will perform some of Sondheim's most beloved songs including the heartbreaking "In Buddy's Eyes" and "Losing My Mind." This truly is the year for Peters & Soneheim as she is currently playing the role of Desire Armfeldt in the current Broadway revival of his A Little Night Music. The original production of Follies opened on Broadway on April 4, 1971 and ran for over 500 performances. It features music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. Hal Prince directed the original production Michael Bennett choreographed.

Other casting includes Kim Cattrall as Phyllis Rogers Stone, Danny Burstein as Buddy, and John Dossett as Ben. Peters and Dossett previously shared the stage in the 2003 Sam Mendes revival of Gypsy as Rose and Herbie. Danny Burstein is fresh off of his acclaimed run as Luther Billis in the recent South Pacific revival and will head into the new production of Women on the Verge of A Nervous Breakdown before rehearsals for Follies begin. Cattrall is perhaps best known for portraying Samantha Jones on the hit HBO series Sex and the City and the subsequent films, but she has enjoyed an extensive stage career on London's West End stages.

Tickets for this sure-to-be-wonderful production go on sale January 30th and the run begins May 7, 2011 and closes on June 5, 2011. Now I'm not one for starting rumors, but the last successful Kennedy Center production (Ragtime in 2009) transferred to Broadway and there is certainly a chance that this production, with its amazing source material and star-filled cast, could be Broadway bound. But regardless, what a great opportunity for DC theatergoers to see Bernadette Peters, a living legend, live onstage.