Every day is opening night.

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Rick Miramontez/ Scott Braun/ Michael Jorgensen
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE

BROADWAY’S SMASH HIT
“I T ’ S  O N L Y  A   P L A Y”

WELCOMES

2-TIME TONY® AWARD WINNER

K A T I E   F I N N E R A N

AND

 “30 ROCK” ALUM

M A U L I K   P A N C H O L Y

IN HIS BROADWAY DEBUT

New York, NY (December 3, 2014) – Producers Tom Kirdahy, Roy Furman, and Ken Davenport announced today that Broadway's record-breaking, star-studded smash hit comedy It’s Only a Play by 4-time Tony® Award winner Terrence McNally, will welcome two new stars. Beginning January 7, 2015, two-time Tony® Award winner Katie Finneran and Screen Actors Guild® Award-winning “30 Rock” alum Maulik Pancholy—in his Broadway debut—will assume the roles of ‘Julia Budder’ and ‘Frank Finger’, respectively.

The new cast members join the previously announced Martin Short, who also begins performances on January 7th in the role of ‘James Wicker’.  Original stars F. Murray Abraham, Matthew Broderick, Stockard Channing and Micah Stock will remain with the production. Recently extended through March 29th, It’s Only a Play will play at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre (where it has shattered house records) through January 18, 2015 before transferring to its sibling Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (242 West 45th Street) starting January 23, 2015.

The biggest hit of the new season, It's Only A Play, is now in performances and celebrated its opening night on Thursday, October 9, 2014. Academy Award® winner F. Murray Abraham, Tony® Award winner Matthew Broderick, Emmy® and Tony® Award winner Stockard Channing, international film sensation Rupert Grint, Tony® Award winner Nathan Lane, Emmy® Award winner Megan Mullally, and newcomer Micah Stock currently star in It's Only a Play. 3-time Tony® Award winner Jack O’Brien directs.   For more information, please visit www.ItsOnlyAPlay.com.   

In It's Only A Play, it’s opening night of Peter Austin's (Matthew Broderick) new play as he anxiously awaits to see if his show is a hit. With his career on the line, he shares his big First Night with his best friend, a television star (Nathan Lane), his fledgling producer (Megan Mullally), his erratic leading lady (Stockard Channing), his wunderkind director (Rupert Grint), an infamous drama critic (F. Murray Abraham), and a fresh-off-the-bus coat check attendant (Micah Stock) on his first night in Manhattan. It’s alternately raucous, ridiculous and tender — and proves that sometimes the biggest laughs happen offstage.

Mr. McNally—a four-time Tony® Award winning playwright—recently celebrated the premiere of his 20th Broadway production, Mothers and Sons, which marks his 50th year on Broadway.  Mothers and Sons, which was nominated for Best Play at the 2014 Tony® Awards, ended its celebrated Broadway run June 22, 2014 at the Golden Theatre and will be seen in more than twenty countries next year. 

The design team for It’s Only A Play includes scenic design by Tony® winner Scott Pask, costume design by Academy Award® and Tony® winner Ann Roth, lighting design by Philip Rosenberg, and sound design by Fitz Patton.

Tickets are available by visiting the Schoenfeld Theatre box office Monday – Saturday, 10am – 8:30pm; Sunday, 12 – 6pm; by visiting the Jacobs Theatre box office Monday – Saturday, 10am – 8:30pm; Sunday, 12 – 6pm; or online at Telecharge.com. For groups of 20 or more, call 855-329-2932.

It’s Only A Play is produced on Broadway by Tom Kirdahy, Roy Furman, Ken Davenport, Hunter Arnold, Morris Berchard and Susan Dietz, Caiola Productions, Carl Daikeler, Jim Fantaci, Wendy Federman, Barbara Freitag and Loraine Alterman Boyle, Hugh Hayes, Jim Herbert, Ricardo F. Hornos, Stephanie Kramer, LAMS Productions, Scott Landis, Mark Lee and Ed Filipowski, Harold Newman, Roy Putrino, Sanford Robertson, Tom Smedes and Peter Stern, and Brian Cromwell Smith.

“Deliriously Dishy. It’s Only a Play is a hit!”
-Ben Brantley, New York Times

“Hilarious! The hottest ticket in town – and rightly so”
-Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal

“Wickedly funny. A pure hoot, a rollicking comedy with perfect casting
and deft direction by Jack O’Brien that gleefully dissects modern Broadway.
You won’t want the night to end”
-Mark Kennedy, Associated Press

“Terrence McNally’s It’s Only a Play is that rare Broadway comedy
that’s as smart as it is funny”
-Linda Winer, Newsday

“A fierce, uproarious new play”
-Elysa Gardner, USA Today

“The funniest play on Broadway in years!”
-Rob Shuter, VH1

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BIOGRAPHIES

Two-time Tony Award winner Katie Finneran will appear in the upcoming drama series, “Bloodline” on Netflix. She co-starred in “The Michael J. Fox Show” last season on NBC.

Finneran won a Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance in the first Broadway revival of the musical, Promises, Promises. She was also awarded the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for her performance in the Broadway revival of Noises Off.

She most recently starred on Broadway as Miss Hannigan in the Tony nominated revival of Annie. Her extensive list of Broadway credits include Mauritius, Cabaret, The Iceman Cometh, Neil Simon's Proposals, The Heiress, In the Summerhouse, My Favorite Year, Two Shakespearean Actors, and On Borrowed Time. Off-Broadway, she appeared in the original cast of the play Love, Loss and What I Wore, as well as You Never Can Tell, Pig Farm, Arms and the Man, Bosoms and Neglect, A Fair Country, Edith Stein, and the Encores! production of Li’l Abner. She made her New York Philharmonic debut in the 2012 concert of Stephen Sondheim’s Company, filmed for cinemas and released on DVD. Finneran made her London debut in the West End production of Fuddy Meers.

On television, Finneran is best known for roles on the series “I Hate My Teenage Daughter,” “Wonderfalls,” and “The Inside.”

Finneran’s film credits include the remake of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, YOU’VE GOT MAIL, LIBERTY HEIGHTS, BEWITCHED, MISS CONGENIALITY 2: ARMED AND FABULOUS, and the recent Peter Farrelly anthology, THE CATCH.

Originally from Miami, Florida, Finneran graduated from the acclaimed New World School of the Arts High School.  She attended Carnegie Mellon University for one year before moving to New York City at age 19 to study acting with Uta Hagen. She currently resides in New York with her husband, actor Darren Goldstein, and their sons Ty and Wes.

Maulik Pancholy is best known for playing Jonathan on the Emmy®, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild award-winning NBC comedy 30 Rock, and for playing Sanjay on Showtime’s award-winning dramedy Weeds. Pancholy’s other television credits include Whitney, Web Therapy The Comeback, The Good Wife, Looking, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The Sopranos, and Tracey Takes On. On the big screen, Pancholy has appeared in films such as 27 Dresses, Friends with Money and Hitch as well as several independent features. His theater credits include the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway productions of Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom (The Culture Project) and Aunt Dan & Lemon (The New Group).  He has also been seen on the New York stage in The Awake (59E59 Theaters), India Awaiting (Samuel Beckett Theater) and The Happy Sad (SPF at The Public).  Regionally, he has worked at The Goodman Theater, The Mark Taper Forum, Yale Repertory Theater, and Shakespeare Festival/Los Angeles. Maulik voices the title character of Sanjay on Nickelodeon’s hit animated series Sanjay & Craig and is also the voice of Baljeet on Disney’s Emmy® award-winning Phineas & Ferb. Pancholy has shared the Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for “Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series” four times – three times with the cast of 30 Rock (winning in 2009) and once with the cast of Weeds. He holds a B.S. in Theatre from Northwestern University and an M.F.A in Acting from the Yale School of Drama.