David Schwimmer, Zeljko Ivanek to Star in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial on Broadway
David Schwimmer and Zeljko Ivanek will play the leads in a Broadway revival of Herman Wouk’s classic 1954 play The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial this spring, under the direction of Jerry Zaks. The production will begin performances at a yet-to-be-named Shubert theater on April 14 and will open officially on May 7.
The play, which Wouk adapted from his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, tells the story of Barney Greenwald, an attorney who defends a Navy lieutenant who is brought up on charges of mutiny by his power-hungry commander, Philip Queeg. The creative team of the new production includes John Lee Beatty (set design), Wiliam Ivey Long (costume design), Paul Gallo (lighting design), and Peter Fitzgerald (sound design). Zaks is a four-time Tony Award winner for his direction of Six Degrees of Separation, Guys and Dolls, The House of Blue Leaves, and Lend Me a Tenor.
Schwimmer will make his Broadway debut in the role of Greenwald. He is a co-founder of Chicago’s Lookingglass Theater Company, for which he has appeared in many plays. He has also starred on stage in Los Angeles in Turnaround, at the Williamstown Theater Festival in Glimmer Brothers, and in London in Some Girls, but is best known for his portrayal of Ross on the long-running TV sitcom Friends. Ivanek is a two-time Tony nominee for his work in Two Shakespearean Actors and Brighton Beach Memoirs; his other New York stage credits include The Pillowman, Loot, The Cherry Orchard, and Cloud 9.
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial was first presented on Broadway in 1954, starring Henry Fonda and Lloyd Nolan as Greenwald and Queeg; that production ran for more than 400 performances. The play was revived in 1983 at Circle in the Square with John Rubinstein and Michael Moriarty in those roles. The property was filmed in 1954 as The Caine Mutiny, with José Ferrer and Humphrey Bogart, and Robert Altman directed a 1988 TV movie version that starred Eric Bogosian and Brad Davis in the leads.
