Wendy Wasserstein's new play, An American Daughter, will open on Broadway April 13, 1997 at the Cort Theatre, under the auspices of Lincoln Center Theatre. Previews begin March 20.
The New York Times reported Sept. 20 that Glenn Close played the lead in a "super-secret reading" of the play in mid September, but that the Broadway production has not yet been cast.
Wasserstein's drama had its premiere at Seattle Repertory Theatre May 31-June 2 with Meryl Streep as its star. No word on whether Streep or Close will repeat the plum role on Broadway.
Wasserstein's drama about a woman descendant of Ulysses S. Grant who gets tangled in a web of politics, media and emotions in contemporary Washington DC, will follow Christopher Durang's Sex and Longing, putting the two old friends (they got their start in theatre together at Yale University) in competition for the 1997 Tony Award.
Durang's play will star another Yalie, Sigourney Weaver, and will be directed by Garland Wright. Wasserstein's drama will be directed by Daniel Sullivan, who also staged her Sisters Rosensweig for Lincoln Center Theatre. Durang's comedy also tackles contemporary politics, as Weaver plays a controversial woman author whose sex-themed book becomes a target of the Religious Right.
Lincoln Center Theatre will show off its renovated Vivian Beaumont Theatre with a revival of Juan Darien, a famous music theatre piece by Julie Taymor and Elliot Goldenthal. Taymor is scheduled to direct Disney's The Lion King on Broadway at the renovated New Amsterdam Theatre.
Also at the Beaumont: a revival of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes, starring Stockard Channing, who has appeared under their auspices in Hapgood, Six Degrees of Separation, The House of Blue Leaves and other plays. Jack O'Brien will direct Foxes, which begins performances April 3 and opens April 27.
Spalding Gray's new (to New York) monolog, titled It's a Slippery Slope, which he's been developing around the U.S., will be presented at the Beaumont Theatre Nov. 3 to Jan 6.
MITZI NEWHOUSE THEATRE
Lincoln Center Theatre also operates an off-Broadway theatre, the Mitzi Newhouse, where it will present a new version of Craig Lucas' God's Heart, directed by Joe Mantello (Love! Valour! Compassion!).
