Long Wharf Theatre Opens LIL'S 90TH

Nick Blaemire, Kristine Nielsen and LuCy Walters join Lois Smith and David Margulies in Long Wharf Theatre's world premiere production of Lil's 90th, by Darci Picoult, directed by Jo Bonney.

The show will take place from January 6 through February 7 on Stage II.

As Lillian (Lois Smith) nears a milestone birthday, she and her family put the finishing touches on the much-anticipated party at which she'll make her singing debut. There's a speech to be written, a band to rehearse and, of course, an outfit to be chosen. But then Lil's husband Charlie's (David Margulies) secret gets out - the birthday surprise that he hoped would make her day may instead tear their lives apart. In Darci Picoult's playful and poignant new play, it is the power of love that stands the test of aging.

Lois Smith's recent theatre work includes Horton Foote's The Trip To Bountiful at New York's Signature Theater and Goodman Theater in Chicago, as well as last season's The Tempest at Steppenwolf in Chicago and Dividing The Estate at Hartford Stage. Some of her favorite stage roles include the original Orpheus Descending on Broadway, as well as The Grapes Of Wrath and Buried Child, for which she received two Tony nominations. Her films include East of Eden, Five Easy Pieces (National Society of Film Critics Award), Fried Green Tomatoes, Next Stop Greenwich Village, How To Make An American Quilt, Twister, Dead Man Walking, Minority Report, and Hollywoodland.

David Margulies has appeared at Long Wharf Theatre in The Price, Rocket To The Moon and She Stoops To Conquer. In New York he was seen last spring in Chasing Manet at Primary Stages. On Broadway his credits include Conversations With My Father, Comedians, The West Side Waltz, Wonderful Town, 45 Seconds From Broadway, Angels In America (where he was the third and last of the Roy Cohns) and Brighton Beach Memoirs. Regionally he has performed at Hartford Stage, McCarter Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum, and Signature Theatre, and others. He has also appeared on film in Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2 (as the Mayor of New York,) All That Jazz, Dressed To Kill, and more. He was also Tony Soprano's lawyer Neil Mink.

Kristine Nielsen appeared in Long Wharf Theatre's 2004-05 production of The Singing Forest. She has also appeared on Broadway in To Be Or Not To Be, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Spring Awakening, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Green Bird, Jackie, and The Iceman Cometh. She'll be playing Stephanie, Lil and Charlie's daughter. On film and television she has performed in Morning Glory, The Savages, Small Time Crooks, and three of the "Law & Order"s.

Both Blaemire and Walters are making their Long Wharf Theatre debuts. Blaemire appeared in the Broadway productions of Cry-Baby (Original Cast) and Glory Days (Music and Lyrics). He is currently writing the music and lyrics for the new original musical Finding Robert Hutchens, with a book by Paul Downs Colaizzo, commissioned by Broadway Across America. He is playing Tommy, Stephanie's son. Walters' New York theatre credits include Bang Day (3Graces), F*ckPlays (Working Man's Clothes), 365/365 (The Public), The Most Beautiful Lullaby You've Ever Heard (City Attic Theater). Walters will be playing Deirdre, Tommy's girlfriend.

For more information about the show, or to buy tickets, visit www.longwharf.org or call 203-787-4282.

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Lil's 90th by Darci Picoult, directed by Jo Bonney

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