New Laurey for Arena's "Oklahoma!"
Less than a week into preview performances of "Oklahoma!"--the production that marks the return of Arena Stage to its Southwest Washington campus after a $135 million makeover-- one of its lead actresses has had to withdraw.
Arena officials said in a statement that because of "pressing personal matters," Valisia LeKae has left director Molly Smith's production. LeKae had been playing the central role of Laurey, who in the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical falls in love with Curly. As a result, the preview performance scheduled for Tues., Oct. 26 has been canceled, with shows resuming on Wed. Oct. 27.
The new Laurey, Arena said, is Eleasha Gamble, whose musical abilities have been showcased numerous times in Washington shows, most recently in Signature Theatre's revival of "Chess."
"Oklahoma!" has its official press opening on Nov. 4.
By
Peter Marks
| October 25, 2010; 5:57 PM ET
Categories:
Peter Marks, Theater
| Tags:
Oklahoma Arena Stage Laurey
Save & Share:
Previous: 2010 Ken Cen Watch: Winfrey
Next: Gopnik's Daily Pic: Gossage's vision
No comments have been posted to this entry.
We encourage users to analyze, comment on and even challenge washingtonpost.com's articles, blogs, reviews and multimedia features.
User reviews and comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions.