Theater News

New York Spotlight: September 2010

Life Begins

T.R. Knight and Patrick Stewart
(© Tristan Fuge)
T.R. Knight and Patrick Stewart
(© Tristan Fuge)

The new Broadway season gets underway with a host of shows beginning their runs in September. Patrick Stewart and T.R. Knight star in the Broadway premiere of David Mamet’s A Life in the Theatre, about the relationship between a veteran actor and a relative newcomer. Neil Pepe directs the play at the Schoenfeld Theatre, September 21-January 2. David Hyde Pierce, Mark Rylance, and Joanna Lumley lead the cast of the Broadway revival of David Hirson’s La Bete (Music Box Theatre, September 23-February 13), which also involves a group of thespians.

Tony Award winner Cherry Jones and Golden Globe winner Sally Hawkins headline the Roundabout’s revival of George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession at the American Airlines Theatre, September 3-November 21. The company is also presenting Kneehigh Theatre’s critically acclaimed production of Brief Encounter at Studio 54 (September 10-December 5), adapted from Noël Coward’s screenplay, and the one act play on which it was based.

Manhattan Theatre Club presents Tony Award winner Lee Hall’s The Pitmen Painters in its Broadway house, the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, September 14-December 12. The play is based on the true story of a group of British miners who unexpectedly become art-world sensations. MTC’s production of Donald Margulies’ Tony-nominated play Time Stands Still makes a return to Broadway, playing the Cort Theatre, beginning September 23. Original stars Laura Linney, Brian d’Arcy James and Eric Bogosian are joined for the new run by Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Christina Ricci.

The hit Off-Broadway musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson makes the move to the Main Stem, at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, beginning September 20. Benjamin Walker reprises his performance in the title role of this hard-rocking musical sendup of the dangers of populism. Another historical figure is brought to life as Dan Lauria plays the title role in Oscar winner Eric Simonson’s new play, Lombardi (Circle in the Square Theatre, beginning September 23), about the famed football coach, Vince Lombardi. The cast also includes Judith Light, Keith Nobbs, Bill Dawes, Robert Christopher Riley, and Chris Sullivan.

Off-Broadway, Betty Gilpin, John Horton, Jayne Houdyshell, Matt Letscher, and Heidi Schreck star in the New York premiere of Julia Cho’s The Language Archive, presented by the Roundabout at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, September 24-December 19. Mark Brokaw directs this play about a man consumed with preserving and documenting the dying languages of far-flung cultures, but who is losing touch with those closest to him. The Roundabout also stages Kim Rosenstock’s Tigers Be Still (September 10-November 21), in its Underground space, featuring Reed Birney, Halley Feiffer, Natasha Lyonne, and John Magaro.

Elizabeth Marvel and Christopher Evan Welch head the cast of director Ivo Van Hove’s production of Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes at New York Theatre Workshop (September 10-October 31). Charles Busch stars in the Off-Broadway premiere of his play, The Divine Sister (SoHo Playhouse beginning September 12), along with Alison Fraser, Julie Halston, Amy Rutberg, Jennifer Van Dyck, and Jonathan Walker.

Sarah Ruhl’s adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando debuts at Classic Stage Company, September 8-October 17. Francesca Faridany plays the title role, with the company also featuring Annika Boras, Gibson Frazier, David Greenspan, Tom Nelis, and Howard Overshown. Also in a literary vein, Elevator Repair Service brings its acclaimed staging of Gatz — in which the entirety of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is read aloud — to the Public Theater, September 26-November 14.

Atlantic Theater Company presents Lucy Thurber’s Bottom of the World in its Stage 2 space September 3-October 3, about a woman mourning her dead sister. Rattlestick Playwrights Theater has the world premiere of Florencia Lozano’s underneathmybed (September 1-October 10), in which the ghosts of a foreign dirty war invade the home of the chaotic Jimenez family. The Pearl presents Michael Frayn’s adaption of Chekhov’s The Sneeze at New York City Center Stage II (September 17-October 31). Sarah Benson helms the world premiere of Gregory S. Moss’ Orange, Hat, and Grace at Soho Rep (September 15-October 10).

The New York Musical Theatre Festival (September 27-October 17) showcases new tuners such as Anthony Rapp’s musical memoir Without You; The History of War, which features a book by Chip Zien; and David Hein and Irene Carl Sankoff’s My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding. Meanwhile the 1st Irish Festival has a host of Emerald Isle-related shows popping up in multiple venues. 59E59 Theaters hosts Absolution (September 8-October 3) and Exit/Entrance (September 10-October 3), while Solas Nua’s The Prophet of Monto is at the Flea (September 8-25); Geraldine Hughes’ production of the comedy Ardnaglass on the Air is at Manhattan TheatreSource (September 13-25); Darragh Martin’s The Map of Lost Things is at PS 122; and Trans-Euro Express, starring Roderick Hill, is at Irish Arts Center (September 16-October 3).

Also of note: Daniel Beaty’s solo Through the Night returns, playing the Union Square Theatre, beginning September 10; A.R. Gurney’s Office Hours debuts at the Flea, September 18-October 24; The Deep Throat Sex Scandal is seen at the Bleecker Street Theatre, September 17-December 19; and Clubbed Thumb presents the world premiere of Sheila Callaghan’s Roadkill Confidential (September 7-28), at 3LD Art & Technology Center.