James Earl Jones set to return to Broadway

Tony Award winner James Earl Jones is set to return to Broadway in a revival of Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman's You Can't Take It With You. The production will be directed by six-time Tony Award-nominee Scott Ellis and will begin previews in August of 2014 with an official opening set for 28 Sep 2014 at a Shubert Theatre yet to be announced.

The original production of You Can't Take It With You opened at the Booth Theatre on 14 Dec 1936, and played for 837 performances. The play also won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Since then, the piece has been revived on Broadway four times: 1945, 1965, 1967 and the last revival was staged in 1983, over thirty years ago.

Synopsis: 'You Can't Take It With You is about the Sycamores and the Kirbys - two completely different families whose worlds collide when their children become engaged. The Sycamore family may seem like the mad ones with their galaxy of unique and zany characters, but it is not long before we realize that if they are mad, the rest of the world is madder.'

Bios:

James Earl Jones is a veteran to the Broadway stage and won Tony Awards for Best Actor in a Play for 'The Great White Hope' (1969) and 'Fences' (1987). He was also nominated in the same category for his performances in 'On Golden Pond' (2005) and 'Gore Vidal's The Best Man' (2012) and nominated for an Olivier Award for his role in 'A Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' in London's West End. His other Broadway credits include 'Driving Miss Daisy' (2010), 'Othello' (1982), 'Of Mice and Men' (1974), 'The Iceman Cometh' (1973) and his Broadway debut 'Sunrise at Campobello' (1958), amongst many others. He is also widely known for his film work and earned a lifetime achievement Oscar for films such as 'Conan the Barbarian', 'Coming to America' and 'Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb', or his voice work as Darth Vader in 'Star Wars' and Mufasa in 'The Lion King.'

Scott Ellis (Director) is the Associate Artistic Director of Roundabout Theatre Company. He has been nominated six times for Tony Awards, including 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood' (2013), 'Curtains' (2007), 'Twelve Angry Men' (2005), '1776' (1998), 'Steel Pier' (1997), and 'She Loves Me' (1994). Other Broadway credits include 'The Little Dog Laughed' (2006), 'Harvey' (2012), 'The Man Who Had All the Luck' (2002), 'The Boys From Syracuse' (2002), 'The Rainmaker' (1999), 'Picnic' (2013), 'Company' (1995), 'A Month in the Country' (1995), amongst many others. He also won an Olivier Award for his London production of 'She Loves Me'.

Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman (Playwrights): The Kaufman and Hart collaboration lasted from 1930 to 1940 and included such plays as 'Once in a Lifetime' (1930), 'Merrily We Roll Along' (1934), 'You Can't Take It with You' (1936), 'I'd Rather Be Right' (1937), 'The Fabulous Invalid' (1938), 'The American Way' (1939), 'The Man Who Came to Dinner' (1939), and 'George Washington Slept Here' (1940).

You Can't Take It With You will be produced on Broadway by Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Steve Traxler, Jessica Genick and Will Trice.

- by Tom Millward