A private presentation next month of a new Broadway-bound production of Douglas Carter Beane’s Tony-nominated 2006 play The Little Dog Laughed will feature Luke Macfarlane and Cooper Koch, with costars including Billy Porter.
The presentation will be held Wednesday, March 4, in New York City. Sheryl Kaller directs. The location to the invitation-only presentation was not disclosed.
The comedy about Hollywood stardom and its costs was first produced on Broadway in 2006, with Tom Everett Scott, in his Broadway debut, as Mitchell, a rising (and closeted) movie star, and Johnny Galecki as Alex, a male escort with whom Mitchell develops a secret relationship. In the original production, Julie White played Mitchell’s agent, winning a 2007 Tony Award for the performance.
Billy Porter
Courtesy Production
For the upcoming reading, the agent role has been revised and will star Porter. The role of Ellen, the escort’s girlfriend, was played in the original production by Ari Graynor and was to have been performed by Ella Stiller in the upcoming presentation, but The Comeback actor had to drop out due to a scheduling conflict. A replacement for the Ellen role will be announced.
Macfarlane has appeared on TV in Brothers and Sisters, Platonic and Shifting Gears, on film in Bros, and on Broadway in The Normal Heart. Koch is best known for his portrayal of killer Erik Menendez in 2024’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, and on film in They/Them). Tony, Grammy and Emmy Award winner Billy Porter has appeared on Broadway in Kinky Boots, Shuffle Along and Cabaret, and on TV in Pose.
Producers are Barbara Manocherian, Tom Smedes, Roy Gabay and Chris Burney.
A Broadway production timeline has not been released.