It's been over 33 years since Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest was last revived on the Great White Way. But finally, months after first being announced as part of Roundabout Theatre Company's 2010-11 Season, further details have emerged regarding the latest, overdue revival.
Up until yesterday, all we knew was that Brian Bedford would reprise his turn doing double duty directing and starring as Lady Bracknell. Bedford's production of this social farce involving mistaken identities and love was first performed north of the border at Canada's Stratford Shakespeare Festival in 2009.
On Thursday, further casting was announced for the play Wilde subtitled A Trivial Comedy for Serious People. The revival will include Dana Ivey as Miss Prism, Santino Fontana as Algernon Moncrieff, David Furr as John Worthing, Tim MacDonald as Merriman, Paul O'Brien as Lane, Charlotte Parry as Cecily Cardew, Sara Topham as Gwendolyn Fairfax, and Paxton Whitehead as Reverend Canon Chasuble.
Roundabout's upcoming production will mark the eighth Broadway revival for the comedy first produced in 1895 and then again in 1902, both at the Empire Theatre. While Bedford is not the first male actor to portray Lady Bracknell, he is the first on Broadway, following a long line of actresses including Estelle Winwood (1936), Margaret Rutherford (1947) and Elizabeth Wilson (1977).
Perhaps the most revered Broadway revival of Wilde's classic work came from stage icon John Gielgud, who initially directed and starred as John Worthing in a British version staged in 1939. It took him eight more years (and World War II) before he mounted his 1947 revival on Broadway in which every cast member earned the Tony Award for Outstanding Foreign Company.
The Importance Of Being Earnest will begin previews at the American Airlines Theatre on December 17, with an opening date set for January 13, 2011. The limited run is currently scheduled to close on March 6, 2011.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
In keeping with the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post.Labels: Brian Bedford, Dana Ivey, David Furr, Oscar Wilde, Paxton Whitehead, Revival, Santino Fontana, The Importance Of Being Earnest
Starry Driving Miss Daisy Steers Toward Great White Way
No sooner do
I post my story on all the plays and musicals that have been confirmed for Broadway this next season and up pops another new show. Well, perhaps not exactly "new."
According to
David Itzkoff of
The New York Times, Vanessa Redgrave and
James Earl Jones will return to the Great White Way this fall in
Alfred Uhry's
Pulitzer Prize-winning play
Driving Miss Daisy.
Directed by
David Esbjornson, this revival will be
Miss Daisy's first trip ever down Broadway, after having first appeared 23 years ago at Off-Broadway's Playwrights Horizons with
Dana Ivey and
Morgan Freeman.
The one and only time I caught
Driving Miss Daisy on stage came in 1988 when I experienced the play in London. I'll never forget that incredible evening with the late
Dame Wendy Hiller portraying Daisy Werthan opposite a young
Clarke Peters as her chauffeur and companion Hoke Colburn. Presented as a three-hander, the stage was virtually bear save for some folding chairs lined up in lieu of car seats. Hiller and Peters didn't need any props to power their story of enduring friendship forward. They were simply magnificent, and it was a night at the theatre unlike any other I've ever enjoyed.
Just one year later in 1989, the
Academy Award-winning Best Picture was released and starred
Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman,
Dan Aykroyd and
Patti LuPone. As tender and heartwarming as the film was, I've always remained partial to the play and its inherent simplicity.
If I have any quibble with yesterday's announcement, it's that James Earl Jones is six years older than Vanessa Redgrave. The entire play's premise is built around Miss Daisy being too old to drive herself, let alone by someone on the cusp of turning 80. That Jones is now six years older than Morgan Freeman, who had just turned 50 when he first took to the wheel of the 1987 Off-Broadway production, makes me wonder how exactly Esbjornson will conceive his Hoke. But given how much I admire both Redgrave and Jones, you can bet that I'm looking forward to seeing this production.
Slated to being previews at the
John Golden Theatre on October 7,
Driving Miss Daisy will open on October 25. The limited engagement will conclude its run January 29, 2011.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
In keeping with the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post.Labels: Alfred Uhry, Broadway, Clarke Peters, Dana Ivey, Driving Miss Daisy, First Word On New Show, James Earl Jones, Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman, Play, Revival, Vanessa Redgrave, Wendy Hiller
