Kevin Kline Replaces Christopher Walken in Mother Courage

Kevin Kline has replaced Christopher Walken as “Cook” in The Public Theater’s upcoming production of Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children. The show will run August 8-September 3 at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, with an official opening slated for August 21. According to the Public, Walken has withdrawn due to scheduling conflicts.

As previously reported, Mother Courage will star Meryl Streep in the title role and will also feature Jack Noseworthy, Jenifer Lewis, Austin Pendleton, and Frederick Weller. It will be directed by George C. Wolfe, the former artistic director of the Public. The play will be presented in a new adaptation by Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Kushner and will feature an original score by Jeanine Tesori.

Kline and Streep previously co-starred at the Delacorte in The Seagull and were jointly honored by the Public last month. The pair also co-starred in the film Sophie’s Choice, for which Streep won the Academy Award. Kline is a two-time Tony Award winner, for On the Twentieth Century and The Pirates of Penzance, and an Academy Award winner for A Fish Called Wanda. He is slated to play the title role in the Public’s production of Shakespeare’s King Lear, to be directed by James Lapine, this fall.