Roundabout Theatre Company starts previews of The Heart at the Laura Pels Theatre on Thursday, October 8. The musical, drawn from Maylis de Kerangal's 2014 novel Réparer les vivants, plays a limited run through December 6, with Heidi Blickenstaff, Drew Gehling and Tony winner Joaquina Kalukango in the company.
Christopher Ashley, the Tony-winning director who is now Roundabout's artistic director, stages it, and the company bills it as its first new Off-Broadway musical in years. The show comes to New York from its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse; Lincoln Clauss and Max McKenna return from that production, and Blickenstaff has been with the piece since its earliest development.
The novel's premise carries over. A young surfer dies, and in the 24 hours that follow his parents face the decision of whether to donate his organs, while a medical team works against the clock and a stranger is suddenly offered a second chance at life. One beating heart ties the two families together.
Kait Kerrigan, who wrote the book for Broadway's The Great Gatsby, supplies the book and additional lyrics. The score is by Anne Eisendrath and Ian Eisendrath, a married pair whose credits include KPop Demon Hunters; Ian Eisendrath also supervises the music. Mandy Moore, who choreographed Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, does the same here.
Blickenstaff plays Claire, Gehling plays Dr. Breva and Kalukango plays Marianne Lamar. The rest of the company is Clauss (Thomas Driscoll), Nick T. Daly (Simon Lamar), Bre Jackson (Cordelia Owl), McKenna (Juliette Brooks), Wren Rivera (Marthe) and Jason Tam (Sean Lamar), with Daniel Brackett, Gareth Keegan, Q. Smith and Emily Somé as understudies.
Design is by Robert Brill (sets), Sarafina Bush (costumes), Amanda Zieve (lighting), Gareth Owen (sound), Lucy Mackinnon (video) and Alberto "Albee" Alvarado (hair and wigs), with Wendy Bobbitt Cavett as music director.
The Laura Pels Theatre is in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, 111 West 46th Street. Tickets are on sale through Roundabout's production page.
