Cuba Gooding Jr., Condola Rashad, Vanessa Williams To Take a Broadway Trip to Bountiful

Academy Award winner Cuba Gooding Jr. (Jerry Maguire) and Tony Award nominees Vanessa Williams (Into the Woods) and Condola Rashad (Stick Fly) will join the previously announced Emmy Award winner Cicely Tyson (Sounder) in the upcoming Broadway revival of Horton Foote’s The Trip to Bountiful. The production, directed by Michael Wilson, begins previews at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre on March 31 in advance of an April 23 opening.

Tyson leads the cast as Carrie Watts, an elderly woman who dreams of returning to her hometown of Bountiful, Texas one last time, despite the protestations of her overprotective son (Gooding Jr.) and domineering daughter-in-law (Williams). The creative team includes Jeff Cowie (scenic design), Van Broughton Ramsey (costume design), Rui Rita (lighting design), and John Gromada (original music and sound design). Additional casting will be announced in the future.

The Trip to Bountiful will be Gooding Jr.’s professional stage debut. His many film credits include Boyz in the Hood, Men of Honor, A Few Good Men, As Good as It Gets, Radio, and Red Tails. Williams, a three-time Emmy nominee for her work on the TV series Ugly Betty, returns to Broadway after appearances in Into the Woods, Kiss of the Spider-Woman, and Sondheim on Sondheim. Rashad received a 2012 Tony nomination for her performance in Stick Fly, and she has also been seen in Ruined, Tambourines to Glory, and the recent Lifetime film adaptation of Steel Magnolias.

Originally a for-television movie which aired in 1953, The Trip to Bountiful made its Broadway debut at Henry Miller’s Theatre (now the Sondheim) later that year in a production which starred Lillian Gish as Carrie. A 1985 film adaptation earned actress Geraldine Page an Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Carrie. The play was most recently presented by Signature Theatre Company off-Broadway in 2005, with actress Lois Smith earning a Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Obie, and Lucille Lortel Awards for her work as Carrie.

Tyson’s Broadway credits include The Corn is Green, Trumpets of the Lord, and Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright. She won a Drama Desk Award for her off-Broadway performance in 1962’s Moon on a Rainbow Shawl. Her many film credits include Sounder, for which she received an Oscar nomination, as well as Fried Green Tomatoes, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, and The Help. She won an Emmy Award for her performance in the title role of the television movie The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, and her many other credits include The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, Roots, King, and A Lesson Before Dying.

Wilson has directed many of Foote’s plays, including Dividing the Estate, The Orphans’ Home Cycle, The Carpetbagger’s Children, and The Day Emily Married. He will also be directing the Roundabout Theatre Company’s upcoming revival of Lanford Wilson’s Talley’s Folly.

Click here for more information and tickets to The Trip to Bountiful.