Full Casting Set for Sweet Smell of Success Concert Starring Raúl Esparza
Noah J. Ricketts, Ali Louis Bourzgui, and Aline Mayagoitia have joined the cast.
Noah J. Ricketts, Ali Louis Bourzgui, and Aline Mayagoitia
MasterVoices has found full casting for their upcoming three-performance concert production of Marvin Hamlisch, Craig Carnelia, and John Guare‘s Sweet Smell of Success, set for November 21-22 at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall. As previously announced, the performances will be led by Raúl Esparza (Company) as J.J. Hunsecker and Lizzy McAlpine (Floyd Collins) as Susan. MasterVoices Artistic Director and Tony winner Ted Sperling is directing and conducting.
Newly announced to be joining them are Ali Louis Bourzgui (The Who’s Tommy) as Sidney Falco, Noah J. Ricketts (The Great Gatsby) as Dallas, and Aline Mayagoitia (Real Women Have Curves) as Rita. Along with the MasterVoices choral ensemble, the company will also include an actor ensemble featuring Clarisse Austin, Brian Binion (The Lion King), Ben Cherington (Parade), Brandon Leffler (On The Town), Colby Q. Lindeman (Wicked), Viviana Rincon, Brian Vaughn (Beetlejuice), Clyde Voce (Floyd Collins), and Jayme Wappel. Craig Burns of The Telsey Office served as a casting consultant.
The gritty musical—which features music by the late Hamlisch, lyrics by Carnelia, and a book by Guare, adapted from the 1957 film by Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman—follows ambitious press agent Sidney Falco who develops an unlikely friendship with gossip columnist J.J. Hunsecker, whose daily column is the primary target for all of Falco’s clients. When Hunsecker enlists Falco to break off a relationship between his sister, Susan, and a young jazz musician, Falco gets all tangled up in Hunsecker’s web. The work played a brief Broadway run in 2002, its dark source material somewhat less appealing to audiences still reeling from the attacks of 9/11. Guare and Carnelia are revising their work for the upcoming MasterVoices staging.
The performances will also feature choreography by Andrew Palermo, scenic design by Ryan Howell, costume design by Tracy Christensen, lighting design by Isabella Byrd, and sound design by Scott Lehrer. The musical features orchestrations by William David Brohn and dance arrangements by Ron Melrose. Bonnie Panson will serve as production stage manager, Cambra Overend is production supervisor, and David Lai is the orchestra contractor. The production is being presented by special arrangement with Concord Theatricals.
“Marvin Hamlisch regarded his music for Sweet Smell of Success to be on a par with that of A Chorus Line, and I wholeheartedly agree, this is a score that needs to be better known,” says Sperling in a statement. “John, Craig, and I are keen to take a fresh look at their show set in the seductively sleazy showbiz underbelly of 1950s Manhattan and snapping with Marvin’s wonderful jazz-inspired songs.”
MasterVoices’ 2025-2026 season also includes Sins and Grace, to be performed at Alice Tully Hall’s Starr Theater at Lincoln Center March 23-24, 2026. The performance will match Fauré’s Requiem in D minor with Seven: A Cycle of Sins. The latter is a new work being created by MasterVoices, which has commissioned seven writers from the theatre and concert worlds (to be announced) to each write a song inspired by one of the seven deadline sins: greed, sloth, gluttony, lust, pride, envy, and wrath. The song cycle will be written for soprano, baritone, chorus, and orchestra.
Tickets are at Jazz.org.