Christopher Plummer Will Conjure Barrymore Again for Toronto Run in 2011 | Playbill

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News Christopher Plummer Will Conjure Barrymore Again for Toronto Run in 2011 Christopher Plummer will resurrect his Tony Award-winning performance as Barrymore — as in famed actor John, in William Luce's two-man play — in Toronto in early 2011.

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Christopher Plummer in Barrymore Photo by Cylla Von Tiedemann

The revival of the play, directed by Gene Saks, will play a strictly limited engagement of 30 performances at Toronto's Elgin Theatre Jan. 27-March 9, 2011.

Plummer won the 1997 Tony for Best Actor in a Play for his turn as an aging Barrymore, the talented wastrel who was part of an American acting dynasty.

Barrymore premiered at Canada's Stratford Festival in September 1996, toured several U.S. cities, and opened at Broadway's Music Box Theatre in March 1997. For his haunted, passionate portrayal, Plummer also won the Drama Desk Award, the Edwin Booth Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Actor in a Play.

Plummer is currently starring to critical acclaim as Prospero in Des McAnuff's production of Shakespeare's The Tempest at Canada's Stratford Festival with performances through Sept. 13, and his newest motion picture, "Beginners," co-starring Ewan McGregor, has been selected as a special presentation at this year's Toronto International Film Festival, with the premiere scheduled for Sept. 11.

The entire original creative team of Barrymore will be reunited for the Toronto presentation including three-time Tony Award-winning director Saks, scenic and costume designer Santo Loquasto and lighting designer Natasha Katz. Barrymore will be presented by TD and is being produced by Kevin Albrecht, Steve Kalafer and Peter LeDonne.

Here's how the producers bill the production: "Barrymore offers an unforgettable portrayal of legendary actor, John Barrymore, a man of colossal talent and contradictions, also considered one of the greatest Shakespearean actors of all time. Set in 1942, the final year of John Barrymore's life, Barrymore takes place on the stage of a Broadway theatre, where the actor is struggling to recreate his performance in the title role of Shakespeare's Richard III. Playwright William Luce (The Belle of Amherst) shows us the many facets of this complicated man and dazzling actor: the wives and the women... the drink and the profanity... the notoriety and the glory...in a portrait that [was acclaimed]."

Actor John Plumpis is featured in Barrymore in the role of "Frank," the unseen, off-stage prompter/stage manager "who assists John Barrymore with running his lines and coaxing out a performance."

Barrymore Barrymore will be performed on Monday-Wednesday and Friday-Saturday evenings at 8 PM. Tickets will go on public sale on Oct. 2.

For additional information, visit www.BarrymoreThePlay.com.

 
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