In a few short weeks, season three of HBO’s “The Gilded Age” will begin airing with Broadway actor Claybourne Elder in the role of John Adams.

But make no mistake: Elder doesn’t play a president. In “The Gilded Age” he is a dashing, but spurned, gentleman of the same name.

Elder will appear in “If The Stars Were Mine” doing two shows Memorial Day weekend at The Cape Playhouse in Dennis. He has performed the cabaret show to more than 30 sold-out audiences around the country, including a shorter version last summer at Mark Cortale’s Provincetown Town Hall Series.

“It’s part standup comedy, part cabaret and storytelling. He speaks about working as a very popular Broadway actor, his time on TV and shares some of his experiences being a gay dad,” said Kirsten Wickson, The Cape Playhouse’s director of sales and guest services.

Elder is married to The Cape Playhouse’s artistic director, Eric Rosen. They live in New York with their son and spend summers on Cape Cod, Wickson said.

Tickets, available through ovationtix.com, are $30-$80 for shows at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 24, and 3 p.m. Sunday, May 25.

On Sunday, Cape Cod Center for the Arts holds its annual open house: The Cape Playhouse gives tours starting at 1 p.m.; Cape Cinema opens at 2:15 p.m. with stories of its history and a chance for people to see the proscenium arch with Rockwell Kent’s art deco mural of the heavens.

At The Cape Playhouse, Rodney Bush will accompany Elder. Bush is a keyboardist and composer, who has worked at HBO and is a founding member of the glam rock band, Tony & The Kiki.

Elder was most recently seen on Broadway in the Tony Award-winning revival of “Company” starring Patti Lupone. He has also performed in “Bonnie and Clyde,” “Sunday in the Park With George, “Torch Song” and “Sondheim on Sondheim.” On TV, he played Pete O’Malley in the CW’s “The Carrie Diaries” and can be seen in the Hallmark Original “Deck the Walls.”

Recently, Elder launched “City of Strangers,” an initiative to provide free Broadway tickets for people who cannot afford them. The project – featured on “This American Life,” “CBS This Morning” and “The Kelly Clarkson Show” – has given away more than 3,000 tickets.

Of “If The Stars Were Mine,” Wickson said, “It’s a nice evening out with some incredible talent and heartwarming stories.”

Gwenn Friss is the editor of CapeWeek and covers entertainment, restaurants and the arts. Contact her at [email protected]. Join the Cape Cod Times free Facebook group, Good Stuff at Cape Cod Restaurants, to share tips and participate in food polls.

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