Angela Lansbury to star in The Chalk Garden on Broadway

It has been reported that five-time Tony winner Dame Angela Lansbury will officially return to Broadway during the 2017-2018 season to star in a revival of Enid Bagnold's 1955 play The Chalk Garden at a yet-to-be-named theatre.

The revival will be produced on the Great White Way by Scott Rudin.

Synopsis: "The Chalk Garden is a poetic comedy that has the sheen of a mystery. It centers on wealthy and eccentric Mrs. St. Maugham, who is raising her spoiled teen-aged granddaughter with the help of an ex-convict butler. A mysterious new governess, Miss Madrigal, shakes things up as she coaxes flowers in a sterile garden to grow — and urges the granddaughter to bloom, too."

Additional casting and creative team information will be released at a later date.

This would mark the first Broadway revival of the play since its premiere at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, which ran from October 1955 through to March 1956 and earned a total of five Tony nominations, including Best Play. Directed by Albert Marre, the original cast featured Gladys Cooper, Siobhan McKenna, Marian Seldes, Betsy von Furstenberg, Fritz Weaver and Percy Waram.

In 1964, a film adaptation was also released, starring Deborah Kerr, Edith Evans and Hayley Mills.

Dame Angela Lansbury was last seen on stage in the 2014 West End revival of 'Blithe Spirit' and was last seen on Broadway in the 2012 revival of Gore Vidal's 'The Best Man.' She has received Tony Awards for her performances in 'Blithe Spirit' (2009), 'Sweeney Todd' (1979), 'Gypsy' (1975), 'Dear World' (1969) and 'Mame' (1966). Other Broadway credits include 'A Little Night Music,' 'Deuce,' 'A Little Family Business,' 'The King and I,' 'Anyone Can Whistle,' 'A Taste of Honey,' and 'Hotel Paradiso.' In 2014, she received an Honorary Academy Award for her lifetime's work on screen, which includes three Oscar nominations - "The Manchurian Candidate" (1963), "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1946) and "Gaslight" (1945). Other notable film credits include "Bedknobs and Broomsticks," "Beauty and the Beast," "Nanny McPhee," "Anastasia," and "Death on the Nile." She is also well known for her TV role as Jessica Fletcher on "Murder She Wrote," which earned her a total of four Golden Globes, along with a further six nominations and twelve Emmy nominations.

- by Tom Millward