Cumming, Fiennes, Neeson, et al. to Be Part of Lincoln Center Festival

The lineup for the 2008 Lincoln Center Festival has been announced. It will include artists and ensembles from nine different countries.

Dublin’s Gate Theatre will present Ralph Fiennes, Barry McGovern, and Liam Neeson in Gate/Beckett, three short works by Samuel Beckett, to be presented at various times, July 16-25, at John Jay College. Neeson will star in Eh Joe, directed by Atom Egoyan; McGovern will appear in I’ll Go On, directed by Colm O’Brien; and Fiennes will star in First Love, adapted and directed by Michael Colgan. The actors will also take part in an hour-long program of Beckett’s poetry and prose on July 26 and 27 — the same days all three short plays will be presented in a marathon.

The Festival will also include the National Theatre of Scotland’s acclaimed production of Euripides’ The Bacchae, directed by John Tiffany and featuring Tony Award winner Alan Cumming as Dionysius, July 2-13 at The Rose Theater.

Goren Bregovic’s Wedding and Funeral Band, which played the Festival in 2006, will perform on July 8 and 9 at Avery Fisher Hall; Britain’s Damon Albarn, formerly of the band Blur, will headline The Honest Jon’s Revue on July 12 at Avery Fisher; and America’s Laurie Anderson will bring her latest full-length work, Homeland, to Rose Hall, July 22-26.

Lastly, David Pountney’s celebrated production of Bernd Alois Zimmerman’s opera Die Soldaten (Soldiers) will be seen on July 5, 7, 9, 11, and 12 at the Park Avenue Armory; and Wiliam Forsythe’s ballet Impressing the Czar will be presented by The Royal Ballet of Flanders at Rose Hall, July 17-20.

Tickets go on sale on Friday, March 28. Call 212-875-5456 or visit www.LincolnCenter.org.