Theater News

The Gin Game, Starring James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson, Moves Opening Date

Leonard Foglia will direct the D.L. Coburn classic at the John Golden Theatre.

Cicely Tyson will star opposite James Earl Jones in The Gin Game on Broadway.
Cicely Tyson will star opposite James Earl Jones in The Gin Game on Broadway.
(© David Gordon)

Broadway's upcoming production of The Gin Game, starring Tony winners James Earl Jones (You Can't Take It With You) and Cicely Tyson (The Trip to Bountiful), has announced new first preview and opening dates. The D.L. Coburn play will now begin performances September 23 in advance of an October 14 opening. Previews were originally set to begin September 18, with an opening night on October 13.

The scheduling changes have been made in order to allow Tyson to attend the 67th Annual Emmy Awards on September 20 in Los Angeles, where she is nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder, and the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors on December 6 in Washington, D.C., where Tyson is an honoree.

The Gin Game returns to the John Golden Theatre, where the original production opened in 1977, starring Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. The play last appeared on Broadway in 1997 and starred Charles Durning and Julie Harris. The production will mark the first time that Jones and Tyson have shared a Broadway stage since 1966's A Hand Is on the Gate at the Longacre Theatre.

In the play, Weller Martin (Jones) and Fonsia Dorsey (Tyson) meet on the porch of their nursing home and strike up a friendship, with Weller teaching Fonsia how to play gin rummy. The two share stories as they play, but when Fonsia wins every hand, Weller becomes increasingly frustrated. Leonard Foglia will direct the Broadway revival.

The production will feature set and costume design by Riccardo Hernandez, lighting design by Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, and sound design by David Van Tieghem.

For tickets and more information, click here.

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