Center Theatre Group Announces ENTER LAUGHING, THE MUSICAL Reading to Honor Carl Reiner, 1/28

In honor of comedy legend Carl Reiner's 75 years in the business, Center Theatre Group is presenting a staged reading of "Enter Laughing, The Musical," which is inspired by Reiner's experiences as a young man struggling to break into theatre in New York. The one night only event directed by Stuart Ross ("Forever Plaid"), Mark Taper Forum on Monday, January 28, 2013, at 7:30 p.m. is already sold out.

Box office receipts are approximately $250,000 and proceeds from this special event benefit CTG programs that support emerging artists.

There is a pre-show cocktail tribute hosted by Mel Brooks, Billy Crystal, Richard Lewis, Rob Reiner and Dick Van Dyke, and an exclusive cast party following the performance.

Adapted from Carl Reiner's first book, a semi-autobiographical work of the same name, "Enter Laughing" features book by Joseph Stein ("Fiddler on the Roof" and "Zorba the Greek"), music and lyrics by Stan Daniels ("Taxi," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show") and orchestrations by Matt Castle. It is presented by special arrangement with Dan Whitten and Tiger Theatricals in association with Carl Reiner. The cast has not been announced.

CTG board member Dante di Loreto, president of Ryan Murphy Television, is the chair of the event. The event's committee includes (in alphabetical order) Rich Appel, Billy Crystal, Robert Greenblatt, Brad Hall, Larry Karaszewski, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jane Lynch, Aimee Mann, Steve Martin, Michael Penn, Lily Tomlin and Betty White, along with CTG board members - Debra and Norris Bishton, Frances and Terry Flanagan, Barbara and Peter Fodor, Brindell Roberts Gottlieb, and Eva and Marc Stern.

"Enter Laughing, The Musical," set in the 1930s, follows a young, hapless shop boy from the Bronx as he pursues his dream of becoming a leading man on stage while facing mounting pressures from his despondent girlfriend, dismissive boss, distracted best friend, disgusted acting coach and disapproving though loving parents. "Enter Laughing," the stage play, written by Joseph Stein the same year he wrote "Fiddler on the Roof," won a Tony Award for Alan Arkin in 1964. Under Stuart Ross's direction, "Enter Laughing, The Musical" broke box office records at the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, N.Y., and New York City's York Theatre Company.

Carl Reiner's long career in show business includes co-starring in the legendary television show "Your Show of Shows," creating and co-starring in "The Dick Van Dyke Show," winning a Grammy Award with Mel Brooks for the comedy album "The Two Thousand Year Old Man In The Year Two Thousand," directing more than a dozen feature films including "The Jerk," "All of Me," "Oh, God!" and "Where's Poppa?" and appearing in many films and television shows. He has a total of 12 Emmy Awards, and was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1999, and received the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2001. Reiner is also the author of more than 10 books; the latest, "I Remember Me," will be published in mid-January.

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