Chita Rivera.Roger Rees.Mandatory Photo Credit Bruce Glikas

 

 

Producers Tom Kirdahy, Tom Smedes, Hugh Hayes and Judith Ann Abrams announced today that John Kander and Fred Ebb’s final Broadway musical, The Visit, featuring a book by four-time Tony Award® winning playwright Terrence McNally, will open on Broadway this Spring, starring two-time Tony Award® winning Broadway legend Chita Rivera and Tony Award® winner Roger Rees. Helmed by Tony Award® winning director John Doyle and choreographed by Tony Award® nominee Graciela Daniele, The Visit will begin performances at the Lyceum Theatre (149 West 45th Street) on Thursday, March 26 with an Opening Night set for Thursday, April 23.

“In The Visit, Chita Rivera shows the world what becomes a legend most,” Kirdahy says. “Kander and Ebb’s final musical is a masterwork. Fascinating, visceral and haunting, The Visit entertains and challenges in ways that can only be described as thrilling. We cannot wait for The Visit to visit Broadway.”

Based on the satirical play by Friedrich Dürrenmatt as adapted by Maurice Valency, The Visit is about greed, love, and one woman’s carefully plotted revenge. The oft-widowed Claire Zachanassian (Chita Rivera), richest woman in the world, returns to the hardship-stricken town of her birth. The locals pray that her wealth will bring them a new lease on life, but her arrival carries a dreadful price. Tony Award® winner Roger Rees co-stars as Anton Schell, the man who scorned Claire years ago. Sardonic and morally complex, The Visit asks “What can your heart afford?”

*Photo: Bruce Gilkas