Meet Cate Blanchett, Richard Roxburgh, and the Stars of Broadway's The Present

Cate Blanchett, Richard Roxburgh, and the stars of the Sydney Theatre Company production of Andrew Upton's The Present met the press at the New 42nd Street Studios on December 9. The work will play the Ethel Barrymore Theater beginning December 17, with opening night set for January 8, 2017.

Blanchett heads the cast as Anna Petrovna, alongside Roxburgh (Moulin Rouge) as Platonov. They are joined by the original Australian company, made up of Anna Bamford (Maria), Andrew Buchanan (Osip), David Downer (Yegor), Eamon Farren (Kirrill), Martin Jacobs (Alexei), Brandon McClelland (Dimitri), Jacqueline McKenzie (Sophia), Marshall Napier (Ivan), Susan Prior (Sasha), Chris Ryan (Sergei), and Toby Schmitz (Nikolai). Everyone in the cast will make their Broadway debuts.

Directed by John Crowley (Brooklyn), the production had its world premiere in 2015. Inspired by Anton Chekhov's Platonov, Upton's adaptation is set in the mid-1990s in an old country house where friends gather to celebrate the birthday of Anna Petrovna, an independent but compromised widow. At the center is the acerbic and witty Platonov, along with his wife, his former students, and their friends and partners. Boiling away inside their comfortable appearances is a mess of unfinished, unresolved relationships, fueled by 20 years of denial, regret, and thwarted desire. The production features scenic and costume design by Alice Babidge, lighting design by Nick Schlieper, and sound design and musical compositions by Stefan Gregory.

For tickets and more information, click here.