CASA VALENTINA Opens on Broadway Tonight

CASA VALENTINA, the new Harvey Fierstein musical based on Casa Susanna, the 60s Catskills resort and oasis for crossdressers, opens on Broadway tonight.

The show features an amazing cast including

• Drama Desk Award winner Reed Birney (Taking Care of Baby at MTC, Blasted)
• Tony Award winner John Cullum (The Scottsboro Boys, "ER", "Northern Exposure")
• Tony Award winner Gabriel Ebert (Matilda, 4000 Miles)
• Obie Award winner Lisa Emery (Lonely, I'm Not; Iron at MTC)
• Tony Award nominee Tom McGowan (Wicked, "Everybody Loves Raymond", Kenny from "Frasier")
• Drama Desk Award nominee Patrick Page (Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, Cyrano de Bergerac)
• Larry Pine (The Royal Family, "House of Cards")
• Drama Desk Award winner Nick Westrate (Loot, Tribes)
• Emmy Award winner and Oscar nominee Mare Winningham (Picnic, "Hatfields & McCoys")

Stana has posted several articles about Casa Valentina (including a great post yesterday) and Casa Susanna.   Wonderful stuff from Stana, as always.

I also found an excellent New York Times article about the play.  Excerpt:

Boas, corsets and high heels are fun, familiar staples of theater. But “Casa Valentina” is about a subculture rarely seen onstage — cross-dressers — and mixes masculinity and femininity in ways that daunted the actors at first, and may do the same to audiences. The play, now in previews, is based on a real Catskills resort where husbands and fathers went in the 1960s to dress and act as women. These were white-collar professionals hobbling in heels, not drag queens sashaying in stilettos; men expressing their femininity without compromising their maleness.


I'm excited to hear about reactions to the play.  Even with the Fierstein's track record, a great cast and what sounds like a top-notch production in every way, there are so many ways for this to go wrong.  I hope they get it right.