Donna Vivino will play the columnist Dorothy Kilgallen in Kilgallen, a new musical getting its world premiere from the York Theatre Company at the Theatre at Saint Jean’s, November 28 to December 27, 2026.
Previews begin Saturday, November 28, and opening night is Thursday, December 3, at 7 p.m. The limited engagement closes Sunday, December 27. The show runs 90 minutes with no intermission.
Tony nominee Chuck Strand wrote the book and music, and the lyrics with Emily Drossell. George Petersen provides additional music. Terry Berliner directs, Jennifer Copaken choreographs and Eric Svejcar is music director. Sets are by Daniel Zimmerman, costumes by Teresa Snider-Stein, lighting by Paul Miller and sound by Peter Brucker. The rest of the cast has not been announced.
Kilgallen wrote the syndicated column The Voice of Broadway and sat on the panel of the television game show What’s My Line? for 15 years. The musical, billed as a mystery, follows her after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, when she became convinced the full story was being kept from the public and kept digging even as she came to believe she was in danger. She died on November 8, 1965, and the circumstances of her death have never been settled.
Vivino made her Broadway debut at age eight as the original Young Cosette in Les Misérables and later played Elphaba in Wicked. “I get to tell the story of a woman who lived, and died, in pursuit of the truth,” Vivino said. “Dorothy was a trailblazer.”
The Theatre at Saint Jean’s is at 150 East 76th Street. Tickets are available on the Kilgallen tickets page.
