The Tony Award-winning actor Mandy Patinkin and the downtown performance artist and playwright Taylor Mac will team up in December for a new Off Broadway piece, “The Last Two People on Earth: An Apocalyptic Vaudeville,†telling the history of humanity through music ranging from Rodgers and Hammerstein to R.E.M., Classic Stage Company announced on Monday. In addition to “The Last Two People,†which will be directed and choreographed by Tony winner Susan Stroman (“The Producersâ€), Classic Stage also announced its latest Brecht production, “A Man’s A Man,†and a new David Ives adaptation, “The Heir Apparent,†as part of the company’s 2013-14 season.
It will begin in September with a production of “Romeo and Juliet,†and Classic Stage on Monday named its Romeo: Finn Wittrock, who played Happy in the 2012 Broadway revival of “Death of a Salesman.†He will star opposite the previously announced Elizabeth Olsen (“Martha Marcy May Marleneâ€).
“The Last Two People†will be staged in December, running at the Henry Street Settlement. According to the season announcement, the piece - created by Mr. Patinkin and Mr. Mac - centers on the two survivors of a flood of biblical proportions, who find that their common language is song and dance.
“A Man’s A Man,†a farce about a dockworker in colonial India who is transformed as a member of the British armed forces, will be another collaboration by director Brian Kulick and composer Duncan Sheik, following their work on the company’s current production of Brecht’s “Caucasian Chalk Circle.†The new show is set to begin in January 2014.
The season will conclude in the spring with another farce, “The Heir Apparent,†which Mr. Ives has adapted from the play by Jean-Francois Regnard about a young man trying to finagle a large inheritance. John Rando will direct. Mr. Ives’s previous works at Classic Stage include “The School for Lies†and, in 2010, “Venus in Fur,†which was later re-mounted on Broadway and won a best actress Tony Award for Nina Arianda.
