Robert in Born Yesterday a Broadway, primavera del 2011

Tony Award winner Robert Sean Leonard (The Invention of Love, TV's "House") will play the reporter Paul Verrall in the new Broadway production of Garson Kanin's Born Yesterday, the producers announced Feb. 8.

He joins Jim Belushi (TV's "According to Jim" and "The Defenders") as corrupt businessman Brock and Nina Arianda (Off-Broadway's Venus in Fur) as Billie Dawn, Brock's narrow girlfriend, who blossoms when Paul becomes her tutor.

The comedy, directed by Doug Hughes, opens April 24 at the Cort Theatre, 138 West 48th Street. Previews begin March 31. Additional casting will be announced.

Leonard won a 2001 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor for his performance in the Lincoln Center Theater production of The Invention of Love. In 2003, he was nominated in the same category for his performance in Long Day's Journey Into Night, which also starred Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Dennehy and Philip Seymour Hoffman. He was most recently seen on stage in Manhattan Theatre Club's The Violet Hour. His Broadway credits include The Music Man; The Iceman Cometh (with Kevin Spacey); Arcadia; Candida (at Roundabout, for which he received a Tony nomination); Philadelphia, Here I Come; The Speed of Darkness; Breaking the Code; and Brighton Beach Memoirs.

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He made his film debut at 19 in "Dead Poets Society." His film credits include "Much Ado About Nothing," "The Age of Innocence," "Mr. & Mrs. Bridge," "Swing Kids" and "The Last Days of Disco." Since 2004, Leonard has played the role of Dr. James Wilson on the hit Fox medical drama "House."

The producers of Born Yesterday are Philip Morgaman, Anne Caruso/Vincent Caruso, Frankie J. Grande, and James P. MacGilvray.

Morgaman and Grande were attached to the yearlong 2009-10 Kanin celebration that resulted in Off-Broadway presentations of Kanin's plays Dreyfus in Rehearsal (July 2009) and Remembering Mr. Maugham (March 2010).

Born Yesterday, one of the first commercial theatrical hits in post-World War II America, focuses on Billie Dawn, the dumb-blonde girlfriend of Harry Brock, a corrupt businessman. Brock hires Paul Verrall, a New Republic reporter, to smarten her up. Judy Holliday starred in the original Broadway run and in the film version, for which she won an Academy Award. Madeline Kahn starred in the first (short-lived) Broadway revival, in 1989.

Garson Kanin (1912-1999) might be best known as the writer and director of Born Yesterday. With Ruth Gordon, whom he married in 1942, he wrote the Academy-Award nominated screenplays "A Double Life," "Adam's Rib" and "Pat and Mike." Kanin was also a novelist and memoirist. His books include "Smash," "Hollywood" and "Tracy and Hepburn." Gordon died in 1985, and Kanin married Marian Seldes in 1990. He died at his home in New York in 1999. Visit www.garsonkanin.com.

Tickets are $25-$120 and may be purchased by visiting www.telecharge.com or by phoning (212) 239-6200 or (800) 432-7250. For more information about Born Yesterday, visit ww.BornYesterdayOnBroadway.com.

House fans may be feeling a slight cardiac dysrhythmia in the wake of news that Robert Sean Leonard is Broadway-bound this spring.

Specifically, Wilson’s portrayer has landed a lead in Born Yesterday, which begins previews in late March and officially opens in April — right around the time House should be lensing the final episodes of its seventh season.

Is the doctor out? Not necessarily, says a source, shrugging off speculation that RSL’s Broadway commitment will pave the way for Fox’s hit medical drama — which just hit season-high viewership — to winnow its ranks. The insider maintains that Leonard’s extracurricular activity is expected to have minimal impact on his day job, save for a possible missed episode or two in the fall.

Of course, that’s assuming Leonard is back next season at all. The actor (among other cast members not named Hugh Laurie) has yet to be signed for Season 8, but we’re told both sides are optimistic that an agreement will be worked out. (But first Fox and Universal Media Studios have to come to reach a deal to bring the show back.)

And as for Leonard’s seemingly at-odds jobs, one must remember that House has an admirable track record when it comes to accommodating cast members’ busy schedules. Just ask Olivia Wilde, whose Dr. Remy “Thirteen” Hadley is due to return this spring, in between the increasingly in-demand actress’ film roles.

The new Broadway production of Garson Kanin's Born Yesterday, which earned Nina Arianda a Best Actress Tony Award nomination for her portrayal of dumb-blonde Billie Dawn, will close a month earlier than expected on June 26.

It will have played 28 previews and 73 performances at the Cort Theatre. Tony winner Doug Hughes directed the revival that also stars Jim Belushi and Robert Sean Leonard. It opened April 24 following previews from March 31.