39 Steps: B'way show to resume life Off-Broadway



Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps, which played its final performance on Broadway on 10 Jan 2010, will move to New World Stages, Stage 1, resuming performances on 25 Mar 2010.

Casting for the New World Stages production will be announced in coming weeks.

The move marks the fourth New York home for the Tony Award-winning comedy. The production originally began performances on 4 Jan 2008 and opened 15 Jan 2008 at Roundabout Theatre Company's American Airlines Theatre. The production then moved to the Cort Theatre and Helen Hayes Theatre, playing for over two years and 771 regular performances, the longest run of any Broadway play in seven years.

The 39 Steps is now in its third year in London, with productions having played in Australia, China, Japan, Italy, Israel and Spain, with US and UK national tours currently on the road.

Adapted by Patrick Barlow and directed by Maria Aitken, The 39 Steps is based on an original concept by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon and on the book by John Buchan.

Set and costume design is by Peter McKintosh, lighting design is by Kevin Adams and sound design is by Mic Pool.

The 39 Steps: Seeking a frivolous night out at the theatre, Richard Hannay is lured into a world of intrigue by a mysterious woman claiming to be a spy. When she winds up dead in his flat, he flees London with the police hot on his trail. The 'unstageable' thriller is staged, with four cast members playing a minimum of 150 roles.

The comedy features a cast of four actors and contains every single legendary scene from the award-winning movie - including the chase on the Flying Scotsman, the escape on the Forth Bridge, the first theatrical bi-plane crash ever staged and the sensational death-defying finale in the London Palladium, besides many other favourite cinematic moments, including the memorable and controversial 'stockings and suspenders' scene!

The Broadway premiere opened to mostly excellent reviews: "Entertaining comedy" (New York Theatre Guide); "Throwaway theater at its finest. And that's no backhanded compliment."; (NY Times); "Pushed Hitchcock's brilliance into some riotous realm of satire, without losing its essentially Hitchcockian flavor" (NY Post); "A jaunty homage to Hitchcock, "The 39 Steps" is whirlwind funny business." (Star-Ledger); "An utterly pointless but physically and conceptually ingenious spoof " (NewsDay); "See the movie. And forget the show." (Journal News); "An entertaining diversion"; (Variety).

Originally published on

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