'Love Can Be Expressed Through Addiction': The Cast and Creators of Days of Wine and Roses Meet the Press

Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas' Days of Wine and Roses is now in previews at Broadway's Studio 54, where the musical will officially open January 28. Shortly before performances began, the cast and creators met the press at a special event. Watch above.

"Love can be expressed through addiction," Guettel shares of the new work. "It's just not expressed very healthfully."

Based on the 1962 film and a 1958 teleplay, Days of Wine and Roses is an unusual love story between Kirsten Arnesen (Kelli O'Hara) and Joe Clay (Brian d'Arcy James), two people also battling alcoholism. The work has O'Hara and d'Arcy James in some of the darkest scenes of their career. As director Michael Grief told Playbill on press day, "They get to do the suffering for us."

"It's challenging because it's taking a head-on look at addiction and the real-life ramifications of what this disease can do to people, how it can destroy them," adds d'Arcy James.

The production, a transfer from Atlantic Theater Company's 2023 Off-Broadway world premiere, is a multi-layered reunion. Guettel, Lucas, and O'Hara previously collaborated on 2005's The Light in the Piazza. O'Hara is also sharing the stage with d'Arcy James after co-starring in Broadway's Sweet Smell of Success in 2002. She says the long connections she's had with her Days of Wine and Roses collaborators is what helps her go to the difficult places required by its plot onstage.

"We're dealing with a subject matter that's very emotional," O'Hara says. "It's very deep and dark, and you have to feel safe. We go onto that stage within that story, and if we don't just feel like we dive and fall into each other, we can't do it."

Much of the musical's Off-Broadway cast returns alongside O'Hara and d'Arcy James for the Broadway bow, including Byron Jennings as Arnesen, Sharon Catherine Brown as Mrs. Nolan, Bill English as Mr. Shaw, Olivia Hernandez as Betty, and David Jennings as Jim Hungerford. New to the company are Tony Carlin as Rad, Tabitha Lawing as Lila, and David Manis as Delaney.

Rounding out the company are swings Steven Booth, Nicole Ferguson, and Kelcey Watson; and understudy Addie Manthey.

Also returning is the entire creative team, led by director Greif. As at the Atlantic, the production features choreography by Sergio Trujillo and Karla Puno Garcia, scenic design by Lizzie Clachan, costume design by Dede Ayite, lighting design by Ben Stanton, sound design by Kai Harada, hair and wigs by David Brian Brown, and orchestrations by Guettel and Jamie Lawrence. Kimberly Grigsby is also back as music director. Casting is by The Telsey Office's Craig Burns.

The Broadway bow is produced by Kevin McCollum, Mark Cortale, Sing Out, Louise! Productions, Atlantic Theater Company, Robert Greenblatt, Nederlander Presentations, Inc., Wild Oak Media, Bob Boyett Theatricals, and Lucas McMahon. The production is presented in association with Roundabout Theatre Company, which owns Studio 54, though Days of Wine and Roses is not part of Roundabout's season.

Visit DaysOfWineandRosesBroadway.com.