Steve On Broadway (SOB)

Vanessa Redgrave to Make Broadway Return as Joan Didion

Vanessa Redgrave to Make Broadway Return as Joan Didion

Looks like Broadway's Booth Theatre will be a very popular destination over the next twelve months. As the current home to the critically-acclaimed, limited engagement of Faith Healer, the Booth was named earlier this week as the venue for the Broadway revival of Simon Gray's Butley with Nathan Lane. Now comes word from The New York Times that another lofty occupant -- Vanessa Redgrave -- will settle in March 29, 2007.

Redgrave is set to perform a one-woman show based on novelist Joan Didion's "The Year of Magical Thinking," her lauded autobiographical account of her personal tragedies over the past few years. In her last foray onto the Broadway stage three years ago, Redgrave expertly carried the audience with her on a downward spiral as Mary Tyrone in the celebrated revival of Long Day's Journey Into Night. That heartbreaking performance won her a Tony.

Direction will be provided by British playwright David Hare (The Breath Of Life, The Blue Room and Stuff Happens).

It seems as though every time I enter the storied Booth Theatre -- named in 1913 for the preeminent American actor of the 19th Century Edwin Booth, who was also the brother to the infamous John Wilkes Booth -- I can count on seeing captivating live theatre. With the addition of Didion's work next year, that trend will surely continue.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Related Stories:
Flashback: Best of 2002-03 (May 24, 2006)
Butley's Back on Broadway at Booth (May 23, 2006)
Faith Healer (The SOB Review) – Booth Theatre, New York, NY (May 10, 2006)
Critics Believe in Faith Healer (May 5, 2006)
Faith Healer Seeks Believers on Broadway Tonight (May 4, 2006)
Broadway Season Nears Finale (April 30, 2006)

Labels: Broadway, First Word On New Show, Joan Didion, Play, The Year Of Magical Thinking, Vanessa Redgrave

posted by Steve On Broadway (SOB) @ Friday, May 26, 2006