40s.' Joe Farkas – Works for Adolph Freitag, and finds an intellectual match in Sunny. Challenges the family to reassess their ideas of identity and family. Described in cast of characters as 'Adolf's business assistant, 20s.' Peachy Weil – Finds a match in Lala. Known for his obnoxious behavior and outspokenness. Described in cast of characters as 'a visitor from Lake Charles, 20s.' Background Originally a series of vignettes, each featuring a different member family of the city's exclusive Standard Club, Ballyhoo was inspired by the playwright's childhood memories. In revising the play, Uhry opted to focus solely on the Freitags and expanded their storyline into two acts. Ballyhoo was commissioned by the Olympic Arts Festival for the 1996 Summer Olympics and was staged at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre that year. The Atlanta cast included Terry Beaver as Adolph, Dana Ivey as Boo, Stephen Mailer as Joe, Jessalyn Gilsig as Sunny, Mary Bacon as Lala, Valerie Curtin as Aunt Reba, and Stephen Largay as Peachy Weil. (T. Beaver, D. Ivey, and S. Largay were the only cast members to transfer to Broadway.) Production The play opened on Broadway at the Helen Hayes Theatre on February 27, 1997 and closed on June 28, 1998 after 556 performances. Directed by Ron Lagomarsino, the original cast included Terry Beaver as Adolph, Dana Ivey as Boo, Paul Rudd as Joe, Arija Bareikis as Sunny, Jessica Hecht as Lala, Celia Weston as Aunt Reba, and Stephen Largay as Peachy Weil. Replacements later in the run included Peter Michael Goetz as Adolph, Kelly Bishop (in circa May 1998) and Carole Shelley (as of August 26, 1997) as Boo, Mark Feuerstein and Christopher Gartin as Joe, Kimberly Williams as Sunny (as of August 26, 1997), and Cynthia Nixon (as of August 26, 1997) and Ilana Levine as Lala. Critical reception Ben Brantley of the New York Times observed, "Much of the gently barbed, idiosyncratic Southern humor recalls a vintage episode of the television sitcom Designing Women . . . Mr. Uhry's one previous play, Driving Miss Daisy . . . was a modest masterpiece of obliquely rendered sentimentality and social commentary. Here the author employs much more direct and conventional means that work more blatantly to elicit laughs and tears. Ballyhoo isn't a clumsy work; on its own terms, it's a model of old-fashioned tailoring. And Mr. Uhry has a fascinating and incendiary subject in the self-hatred implicit