Ralph Fiennes, Cherry Jones, Ian McDiarmid to Star in Faith Healer on Broadway

Ralph Fiennes, Cherry Jones, and Ian McDiarmid will star in a revival of Brian Friel’s Faith Healer at the Booth Theater, April 18-July 30. Directed by Jonathan Kent, the production will open officially on May 4.

Faith Healer tells the story of Frank Hardy, a charming miracle peddler (Fiennes), who travels Scotland and Wales with his lover Grace (Jones) and Teddy, his doting manager (McDiarmid). Prior to the Broadway engagement, Fiennes and McDiarmid will star in the show at Dublin’s Gate Theatre with Ingrid Craigie as Grace. The show’s design team includes Jonathan Fensom (sets and costumes) and Mark Henderson (lighting).

Friel’s other plays include Philadelphia, Here I Come!, Translations, and Dancing at Lughnasa, which won the Tony Award for Best Play. Faith Healer had a short-lived Broadway production in 1979, directed by José Quintero and starring James Mason, Clarissa Kaye, and Donal Donnelly.

Fiennes won the Tony Award for his previous Broadway outing in Hamlet, directed by Kent. He has been nominated for two Academy Awards, for Schindler’s List and The English Patient, and can currently be seen on the big screen in The Constant Gardener and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Jones is a two-time Tony winner for The Heiress and Doubt. Her other Broadway credits include Major Barbara, A Moon for the Misbegotten, and Imaginary Friends. Among McDiarmid’s many London stage credits are Tartuffe and Henry IV; he appeared in four of the Star Wars films as Emperor Palpatine.

Kent has directed three Broadway productions: Medea, Hamlet, and the 2003 revival of Man of La Mancha. With McDiarmid, he was joint artistic director of London’s Almeida Theater for 12 years.