Buyer & Cellar is an outrageous new comedy about the oddest of odd jobs – an unemployed Los Angeles actor going to work in Barbra Streisand’s Malibu basement.
The production reunites the team behind the sell-out award-winning New York run – Stephen Brackett directs Michael Urie as Alex More. Urie is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Marc St James in Ugly Betty, and is also currently appearing in hit comedy Modern Family. For originating the role at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Urie received the Drama Desk Award, Clarence Derwent Award, and nominations for the Drama League and Outer Critics’ Circle awards.
Michael Urie’s other New York theatre work includes How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying (Broadway), The Cherry Orchard (Classic Stage Company), Angels in America (Signature Theatre), The Temperamentals (Off-Broadway; Lucille Lortel – Drama Desk and Theatre World awards; Drama League nomination), The Revenger’s Tragedy (Red Bull Theatre) and Another Vermeer (HB Playwrights). He has worked in many US regional theatres, including The Old Globe, Vineyard Playhouse, South Coast Rep, Seattle Rep, Folger Shakespeare, Barrington Stage, Hyde Park (Austin) and The Blank (Los Angeles). For television his work includes The Good Wife, Hot in Cleveland and Partners; and for film He’s Way More Famous Than You (also director), Thank You for Judging (co-director/exec producer), Beverly Hills Chihuahua, WTC View, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, The Decoy Bride, Petunia and Such Good People.
Jonathan Tolins plays include The Twilight of the Golds (Broadway), If Memory Serves, The Last Sunday in June, and Secrets of the Trade (off-Broadway). A collection of his plays has been published by Grove/Atlantic. For US television he was a writer of Queer as Folk, Partners, The Academy Awards and The Tony Awards; and for film, his work includes The Twilight of the Golds and Martian Child. He was the author of Pushkin 200: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall, acted as script consultant on Walking with Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular and co-wrote The Divine Millennium Tour and The Showgirl Must Go On for Bette Midler. Also a journalist, he has written articles for Opera News, Opera Monthly, TheaterWeek, Time and The Huffington Post, and is a panellist on the Metropolitan Opera Radio Quiz.
The Menier Chocolate Factory’s UK première of Jonathan Tolins’ Buyer & Cellar opens on 19 March, with previews from 12 March, and runs until 2 May.
