There once was a woman...

Okay, everyone knows that The Pajama Game is my absolute favorite musical so I'm watching with great interest the casting for the revival that's coming to Broadway in 2006, starring Harry Connick Jr.

They are pushing this production pretty hard, with lots of ads, and they did a special "first 100 tickets" for $19.54 since the show was originally done in 1954. However, I think it would have been a more compelling promotion if they had sold those first 100 tickets for 7.5 cents.

Anyways, the latest news is that Babe Williams played by Janis Paige in the original Broadway production and Doris Day in the movie version, will be played by Kelli O'Hara. Kelli is currently starring in The Light in the Piazza, as the daughter with the terrible secret that can't be revealed until Act 2...

No question, she has a beautiful voice (she won a Tony for that role), but is she Babe Williams, the spunky, girl next door with...uh...spunk? That's not exactly the voice I was imagining for the role, but who knows, maybe she is extremely versatile and can handle the chutzpah required for such a weighty, important role.

The critical question is, of course, who is going to play Gladys Hotchkiss?

According to this article in Playbill:

Kelli O'Hara, who was Tony-nominated for her performance as an American innocent in 1960s Florence in The Light in the Piazza, will leave the Lincoln Center production on Dec. 4, to begin rehearsals for the Broadway revival of The Pajama Game.

O'Hara will play Babe Williams opposite Harry Connick, Jr., in the Kathleen Marshall-directed production, due to begin previews Jan. 19 at the American Airlines Theatre.

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