Pasadena Playhouse adds Ed Asner in ‘FDR’ to fall 2010 season

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As it gradually works its way back to solid financial ground, the Pasadena Playhouse has added two more productions to its lineup for the upcoming season.

Ed Asner will star in the solo show “FDR” (Oct. 12 to Nov. 7), a drama that follows the life of the president from inauguration to World War II. The production is based on Dore Schary’s Tony-winning play “Sunrise at Campobello” that ran on Broadway in 1958.

Asner, 80, has won seven Emmy Awards for his work on the television series “Mary Tyler Moore,” “Lou Grant,” “Roots” and others. He recently loaned his voice to the Pixar film “Up.”

“Uptown, Downtown” (Nov. 16 to Dec. 12) is a musical in which actress Leslie Uggams traces her career on stage and screen. The production ran earlier this year at New York City’s Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Uggams recently appeared at the Pasadena Playhouse in “Stormy Weather,” a musical about the life of the late Lena Horne

The Pasadena Playhouse announced in July that it had emerged from bankruptcy. The theater company had shut down its main stage in February on the heels of financial difficulty, including debt owed to creditors and other parties.

The upcoming 2010-11 season will also feature a production of the new musical “Dangerous Beauty,” based on the 1998 movie, that will open in January.

-- David Ng

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