Richard Perez and Phillip Taratula complete the onstage company of A Kidman Carol, Kevin Zak’s awards-season spin on Dickens, which is now in rehearsal ahead of a six-week run at New World Stages beginning Monday, November 16.
For Taratula the job is a reunion. He played Meredith Blake in Zak’s Parent Trap parody Ginger Twinsies at the Orpheum last year, and here takes on Katharine Hepburn among several roles. His other stage credits include The Skin of Our Teeth on Broadway at Lincoln Center Theater and the national tour of What the Constitution Means to Me.
Perez, a Brooklyn comedian and writer, plays Jaff and others. His solo show I Have To Do This was directed by Charlie Bardey, Vulture named him among the comedians to watch in 2023, and his screen work includes The Moment for A24 and Hulu’s Never Change.
The two join Marla Mindelle (Titanique) as Nicole Kidman, Josh Sharp (ta-da!) as Cate Blanchett, and Ashby Florence, whose casting was announced earlier this month, as was the production itself. Lizzy Brooks and Michael Khalid are the swings. Brooks has appeared in Macbeth on Broadway and Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole at New York Theatre Workshop; Khalid’s Off-Broadway work includes The Winter’s Tale for Shakespeare in the Park, The Ally at the Public Theater and We Live in Cairo at New York Theatre Workshop.
Zak’s premise sets Blanchett up as Hollywood’s Scrooge. On the night before the Oscars she is visited by three spirits, every one of them Nicole Kidman, who have come to show her what awards season is really for. The trip takes her from her early years in the Australian outback, through a Dickensian Tinseltown on the brink, to a future in which her soul, the movies and possibly the planet are at stake.
Skylar Fox directs. The design team is dots (scenic), Wilberth Gonzalez (costumes), Stacey Derosier (lighting), Germán Martínez (sound), Caite Hevner (projections and video) and Krystal Balleza and Will Vicari (wigs and makeup), with compositions by Daniel Kluger, choreography by Jesse Robb, props by Jonno Knust and dialect work by Patrick Mulryan. Aaron A. Watson is the production stage manager, casting is by Jason Thinger, CSA, and Envoy Theatricals is general manager.
George Strus of Benson Drive Productions produces with Mickey Liddell and Pete Shilaimon of LD Entertainment.
Performances begin Monday, November 16, 2026, at New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street, and the official opening is Monday, November 30. The strictly limited engagement of 54 performances ends Wednesday, December 30. Tickets are on sale through Telecharge, by phone at 212-239-6200, and at the New World Stages box office.
For more information, visit the official website.
