Facing the Music, Hamill Offers Bergen Six Dance Lessons at the Belasco Starting Oct. 7
By Kenneth Jones
07 Oct 2003
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Mark Hamill.
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A Florida retiree and a salty dance instructor find common ground — the dance floor — in Richard Alfieri's warm comedy, Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks, starting its Broadway run Oct. 7, with Polly Bergen and Mark Hamill cutting a rug.
Arthur Allan Seidelman directs at the historic Belasco Theatre, where Bergen appeared in the revival of Follies that earned her a Tony Award nomination. Opening night is set for Oct. 29.
In Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks, "Polly Bergen portrays Lily Harrison, a formidable Florida retiree who has hired a dance instructor for six weeks," according to production notes. "Much to her dismay, she is greeted by an acerbic, transplanted New Yorker, Michael Minetti (Mark Hamill). After a rocky start, Michael and Lily soon learn they have more in common than either could have imagined."
It's billed as a comedy about "the nature of friendship" that "invites us to cherish the partners we choose."
Producers are Rodger Hess; Marcia Seligson; Entpro Plays, Inc.; Carolyn S. Chambers; Sight, Sound and Action, Ltd.; Brantley M. Dunaway, Judy Arnold, and Patricia Greenwald.
The Belasco is at 111 W. 44th Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue. The schedule for Six Dance Lessons will be will be 7 PM Tuesdays, 8 PM Wednesday through Saturdays, with matinees 2 PM Wednesdays and Saturdays and 3 PM Sundays.
Tickets ($25-$80) are also available through Telecharge by
calling (212) 239-6200.
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The play recently completed a successful Berlin
engagement at the Renaissance Theater. That production will open shortly at the Theater in Der Josefstadt in Vienna, and will then return to be in repertory at the Renaissance Theater. Additional productions are planned for Essen and Koblenz in October, and Hamburg in February 2004. A tour of Germany, Austria and Switzerland will begin in the fall of 2004. Elke Sommer will star in a Dusseldorf production in September 2004 before doing the play in Scandinavia. In January 2004, it will open at the Beit Lessen Theatre in Tel Aviv.
In the U.S., the play was first seen in a Los Angeles area run starring Uta Hagen and David Hyde Pierce. Rue McClanahan and Mark Hamill later played the roles at Coconut Grove Playhouse in South Florida.
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