Friday, May 9, 2014

New Productions Announced for Next Season

Two productions have been announced for the fall -- a revival of an old chestnut and a new play by a Tony-nominated playwright.

The first production is a revival of the classic musical On the Town, in what is being touted as the show's 70th anniversary revival.  The historic comedy was written and created by Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Jerome Robbins.  This production will be directed by John Rando, a Tony winner for Urinetown, with a design team that includes set designer Beowulf Boritt and costume designer Jess Goldstein.  The show will begin previews on September 20th with an October 16th opening night and will play at the newly christened Lyric Theatre.  The Lyric is a relatively new Broadway theater.  Constructed in 1998, the house combines the former Lyric and Apollo theaters and the venue has hosted such productions as the original productions of Ragtime and Young Frankenstein.  The new Lyric Theatre has 1,930 seats, making it the second largest theater on Broadway after the Gershwin.

This fall will also see the return to Broadway of Tony-nominated playwright Jez Butterworth.  He will be represented on Broadway with a new play called The River, which will star Tony winner and Oscar nominee Hugh Jackman.  The play will run from late October through next January at the Circle in the Square Theatre, the current home of Audra McDonald as Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill.  The production will be directed by Ian Rickson, who also directed Mr. Butterworth's previous Broadway outing, Jerusalem, as well as the 2009 revival of Hedda Gabler and the 2008 staging of The Seagull.  Mr. Jackman's co-stars will be Laura Donnelly and Cush Jumbo.

No comments:

Post a Comment