The homage to the title screenwriter Dalton Trumbo will begin at the Virginia Wimberly Theatre in the Theatre Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, Feb. 8. The run — extended due to high ticket demand — was originally slated through Feb. 27.
Christopher Trumbo, son of the work's focal character, culled the play from the letters of the legendary blacklisted screenwriter. Trumbo tells the story of one of the "Hollywood Ten" who went before the House Un-American Activities Committee. After refusing to answer questions about his political affiliations, Trumbo was fired from MGM and imprisoned for a year.
Dennehy won a 2003 Tony Award for his performance in Long Day's Journey Into Night. His other Broadway appearances include Translations and another Tony-winning turn in Death of a Salesman. He is reprising the title role in Trumbo which he previously played Off-Broadway.
Peter Askin (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Sexaholix... a love story) — who directed the recent Off-Broadway staging — returns to helm the work which has its lead actor reading from a script mostly seated at a desk. The words of Trumbo echo upon subjects as serious as injustice tempered with a lighthearted letter to his son doling advice on masturbation. The Narrator fills out the storyline with biographical details between scenes — as do film projections including actual footage from the HUAC hearings.
Trumbo played Off-Broadway with Nathan Lane in the title role with successive stints featuring F. Murray Abraham, Gore Vidal, Richard Dreyfuss, Roger Rees, Robert Loggia, Christopher Lloyd, Michael Richards and Chris Cooper. Gordon McDonald played in the show's other role of Narrator/Christopher. Dalton Trumbo wrote such screenplays as "Exodus," "Spartacus," "Roman Holiday" and "Papillon" as well as the novel "Johnny Got His Gun." The homage addresses the Oscar he never won for "The Brave One" — penned under the pseudonym Robert Rich.
Tickets to Trumbo at Huntington in Boston, MA, are available by calling (617) 266-0800. For more information, visit www.huntingtontheatre.org.
