Broadway Spring 2017 Preview - The Plays: Part 2
Following on from Part 1 of our Spring 2017 preview of upcoming plays, in which we took a closer look at Significant Other, The Glass Menagerie, The Price, Sweat, The Play That Goes Wrong and Present Laughter, it's now time to turn our attention to the rest of the great plays Broadway has to offer in the 2016-2017 season:
OSLO
So huge was the impact of the Lincoln Center Theater's production of Oslo when it played at LCT's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre last summer that the show's director Bartlett Sher (who also just happens to be Artistic Director at Lincoln Center Theater) was quick to announce a move into the venue's larger (and Broadway-classified) space of the Vivian Beaumont Theatre. Check out our review of the off-Broadway engagement here. Thankfully Tony winner Jefferson Mays and two-time Tony winner Jennifer Ehle are back on board to lead the cast in this timely political drama, set in Norway during the historic 1993 Oslo Accords. It seems like no topic is out of bounds for Broadway, as the tense Israeli-Palestinian relations are scrupulously explored by the gifted playwright J.T. Rogers, making his Broadway debut with the play. Political divisions are dominating the world nowadays and this spring art reflects reality at the Lincoln Center with perhaps the most thought-provoking piece of the season! Previews begin on March 23, before an official opening on April 13.
Click HERE for tickets to Oslo!
INDECENT
Another playwright making her long-awaited Broadway debut this spring is Paula Vogel. Ever since winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama back in 1998 with 'How I Learned to Drive,' theatre enthusiasts have wondered when her work might grace the Great White Way. Thankfully that day is close at hand due to the success of the off-Broadway production of Indecent at the Vineyard Theatre last spring. Read our review here. Vogel takes us on a behind-the-scenes journey to the early 1920s and the Broadway premiere of Sholem Asch's controversial play 'God of Vengeance.' The production sent shockwaves through the Jewish community and was regarded by some as "an act of traitorous libel" due to its "indecent" content. We now have the opportunity to relive the historic play's birth and get to know the artists who risked it all - their livelihoods and even their lives - to be a part of it. Previews begin on April 4, with an official opening scheduled for April 18 at the Cort Theatre.
Click HERE for tickets to Indecent!
LILLIAN HELLMAN'S THE LITTLE FOXES
In an unprecedented first in the history of the Manhattan Theatre Club, two leading ladies will alternate two leading roles at every performance at the company's Broadway venue of the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. The two leading actresses come in the form of stage and screen veterans Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon. The leading roles they will both master are that of Regina Hubbard Giddens and Birdie Hubbard in Lillian Hellman's timely family drama The Little Foxes. Both actresses have enjoyed stellar careers on the Great White Way, including Tony nominations for Linney for 'Time Stands Still,' 'Sight Unseen,' and Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible,' and a Tony win for Nixon for 'Rabbit Hole,' along with nominations for 'Indiscretions' and 'Wit.' With such credentials, this theatrical experiment of alternating roles is in very capable hands and we can't wait to see the two varying interpretations of each role. The play is set in Alabama in 1900 and follows Regina, her sister-in-law Birdie and the rest of their clan as they brutally clash with one another, victims of their own greed and ambition, in the hopes of striking a deal of a lifetime! Previews begin on March 29, before an official opening on April 19.
Click HERE for tickets to Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes!
SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION
The Broadway premiere of John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation was staged by Lincoln Center Theater back in 1990, earning a Tony nomination for "Best Play" and a Pulitzer Prize nomination. The play's leading lady Stockard Channing then reprised her role for the 1993 film adaptation (which also starred Will Smith and Donald Sutherland), earning her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. For this first Broadway revival, some familiar faces from the world of TV and Film have been drafted in to re-tell the tale (inspired by a true story) of Paul - a young black con man - who insinuates himself into the lives of Ouisa and Flan Kittredge - a wealthy New York couple - claiming to be both the son of Sidney Poitier and an acquaintance of their son at college. Look out for seven-time Emmy Award winner & two-time Tony nominee Allison Janney as Ouisa and Tony winner & Emmy nominee John Benjamin Hickey as Flan, as well as "Straight Outta Compton" star Corey Hawkins as Paul! Previews begin at the Barrymore Theatre on April 5, before an official opening on April 25.
Click HERE for tickets to Six Degrees of Separation!
A DOLL'S HOUSE, PART 2
Henrik Ibsen's 'A Doll's House' premiered in 1879 and has established itself as one of the world's most produced plays. But whatever happened to those iconic characters after the events of the play? Does 19th century Nora Helmer live to regret the decision of leaving her husband Torvald and three children or does she revel in her newly found emancipation? Thanks to rising star Lucas Hnath, who has wowed critics off-Broadway with his plays 'The Christians' and 'Red Speedo,' we will finally find out the answers to these and many more questions. This sequel is set many years after those climactic events in the finale of Ibsen's play, as Nora returns to the very home she left. But why? Tony winner Sam Gold directs an all-star cast which includes three-time Emmy winner & three-time Tony nominee Laurie Metcalf, Oscar winner Chris Cooper, Tony winner Jayne Houdyshell and two-time Tony nominee Condola Rashad. As the fates of these iconic characters unravel, A Doll's House, Part 2 could very well be the most intriguing play of the Broadway season! Previews begin at the Golden Theatre on April 1, before an official opening on April 27.
Click HERE for tickets to A Doll's House, Part 2!
So that councludes are series of previews of all the new musicals and plays that will be taking their first bows on the Great White Way this spring. They make up one of the most packed, diverse and competitve Broadway seasons in recent memory, but which production are you looking forward to the most?
Photo by T. Charles Erickson Jennifer Ehle & Jefferson Mays in OsloPhoto by Carol Rosegg Adina Verson & Katrina Lenk in IndecentPhotos by Nino Muñoz & Maarten de Boer Laura Linney & Cynthia NixonPhotos courtesy of Boneau/Bryan-Brown & Eric Hobbs John Benjamin Hickey, Allison Janney & Corey Hawkins Laurie Metcalf & Chris Cooper
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