The Peccadillo Theater Company, the OBIE, Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk Award-winning company dedicated to the rediscovery of classic American theater, proudly announces a revival of THE SHOW-OFF by Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist George Kelly, starring Lucille Lortel Award-winner Annette O’Toole (Southern Comfort,Man from Nebraska, “Smallville,” “Halt and Catch Fire”). Directed by Peccadillo’s artistic director, Dan Wackerman, THE SHOW-OFF will begin a limited 5-week engagement Off-Broadway at Theatre at St. Clement’s (423 West 46 Street, btw. Ninth & Tenth Aves) on Thursday, September 21st (running through Saturday, October 21st). The Opening Night is Thursday, September 28, 2017 at 7 PM. Tickets to THE SHOW-OFF are priced at $49, and are now available online at www.thepeccadillo.com (or by calling Ovationtix at 866-811- 4111).
Notable for its masterly blending of comedy and drama and meticulous attention to the ordinary details of everyday life, THE SHOW-OFF revolves around a working class Irish family in North Philadelphia in the mid-1920s. Mr. and Mrs. Fisher and their three adult children are thrown into a state of turmoil when Amy, their middle child, brings home a preposterous suitor named Aubrey Piper. A compulsive liar with delusions of grandeur, Aubrey meets his match in Mrs. Fisher, the crusty, no-nonsense matriarch of the family. A battle of wits ensues and the outcome is a vindication (of sorts!) of the American con man.
Annette O’Toole received the 2016 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical, as well as Drama Desk and Drama League Award nominations, for The Public Theater production of Southern Comfort. Other New York theater credits include The Traveling Lady (Cherry Lane), Man From Nebraska (Second Stage), Hamlet in Bed (Rattlestick) and Heresy (Flea). Her numerous television credits include “Smallville” (Martha Kent), Stephen King’s “11.22.63,” AMC’s “Halt and Catch Fire” (Susan Emerson), USA’s “The Huntress” (Dottie Thorson) and “The Kennedys of Massachusetts” (Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, Emmy and Golden Globe Award nominations). She recently starred in Ingrid Jungermann’s popular web series “F to 7th,” and also appeared with Michael McKean, as co-host on TCM’s “Spotlight: From Stage to Screen.” Selected Film: the upcoming A Futile and Stupid Gesture,Women Who Kill, We Go On, Superman III, 48 HRS, Smile. Ms. O’Toole is an Academy Award nominee, for Best Original Song along with Mr. McKean, for A Mighty Wind’s “A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow.”
American playwright and screenwriter George Kelly began his career in vaudeville as an actor and sketch writer. The brother of 3-time Olympic medalist John B. Kelly Sr. and the uncle of actress Grace Kelly, Mr. Kelly’s other plays include The Torch-Bearers (the basis for the 1935 film Doubting Thomas and the 1939 film Too Busy to Work); Craig’s Wife, for which he won the 1926 Pulitzer Prize for Drama (the basis for the 1928 and 1936 films of the same name, as well as 1950’s Harriet Craig); Daisy Mayme; Behold, the Bridegroom; The Flattering Word; Maggie the Magnificent; Philip Goes Forth; Reflected Glory; The Deep Mrs. Sykes and The Fatal Weakness.
THE SHOW-OFF, Kelly’s second play, became the basis for the 1926, 1934, and 1946 motion pictures of the same name as well as 1930’s Men Are Like That. THE SHOW-OFF has earned its reputation as one of a handful of classic American stage comedies that continue to “hold up” decades after being written. The last major production in NYC was 25 years ago, while the 1967 Broadway revival – exactly 50 years ago – was a popular and critical triumph for the great Helen Hayes. THE SHOW-OFF remains a perennial favorite of regional theaters across the country.
Joining Ms. O’Toole in the cast of THE SHOW-OFF are Marvin Bell, Aaron Gaines, Ian Gould, Elise Hudson, Emma Orelove, Douglas Rees, Buzz Roddy and Tirosh Schneider.
Scenic and lighting design are by Harry Feiner, costume design is by Barbara A. Bell, wig design by Paul Huntley and properties by Jessica C. Ayala. Casting by Stephanie Klapper, CSA.
For over 20 years, the award-winning Peccadillo Theater Company has been dedicated to the rediscovery of classic American theater, particularly those works which, despite their literary and theatrical value, are not regularly revived in New York City. Led by Artistic Director Dan Wackerman, Peccadillo’s past productions include revivals of the Schwartz/Fields/Abbott musical A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (2011 Outer Critics Circle and Off-Broadway Alliance Award nominations for Outstanding Musical Revival), Jim Brochu’s Zero Hour (2010 Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle and Lucille Lortel Award nominations for Outstanding Solo Show), and Elmer Rice’s Counsellor-At-Law (2005 OBIE Award for Mr. Wackerman’s direction, Outer Critics Circle and Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Outstanding Play Revival).
THE SHOW-OFF will be performed Off-Broadway at Theatre at St. Clement’s (423 West 46 Street, btw. Ninth & Tenth Aves) Thursday, September 21st through Saturday, October 21st. The Opening is Thursday, September 28th at 7 PM. The performance schedule is Wednesdays at 7PM; Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8PM; and Sundays at 3PM. (Additional performance on Monday, September 25th at 7 PM).
Tickets to THE SHOW-OFF are $49 and are now available online at www.thepeccadillo.com or by calling Ovationtix at