PHOTO FLASH: Stephen Hawking Visits Jane Fonda at 33 Variations in Los Angeles
(© Ryan Miller/Capture Imaging)
Physicist Stephen Hawking attended a preview performance of writer/director Moisés Kaufman’s 33 Variations, at the Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre, on February 1.
The production stars two-time Academy Award-winner Jane Fonda, who is reprising her Tony-nominated role from the Broadway production of the play in 2009, as well as Zach Grenier, Samantha Mathis, Don Amendolia, Susan Kellermann, Greg Keller, Grant James Varjas, Scott Barrow and Caitlin O’Connell.
In 33 Variations, the audience is transported back and forth from present-day New York to 19th-century Austria, as a musicologist (Fonda) is determined to solve the musical mystery of why Beethoven (Grenier) spent his last years feverishly writing 33 variations of what appeared to be a mediocre waltz created by his publisher.
Fonda’s character suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the same motor neurone disease that afflicts Hawking. Following the show, the two visited backstage.
For tickets and more information on the show, click here.
