The Longacre is at 220 W. 48th Street. Opening is March 30. For tickets, contact www.telecharge.com or (212) 239-6200. Phone and internet sales began Feb. 10.
The official website for the production was recently launched. It features comic-book panels — showing writer-actress Kron, explaining her play — illustrated by acclaimed artist Dan Clowes. Find it at www.WellOnBroadway.com.
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The comic, presentational, highly theatrical Well is a frisky investigation of personal health and wellness, but also, observers have noted, of community, race and the mystery of the relationship between adult children and their parents.
Its guide is Michigan-raised actress Kron, who tells her story but is interrupted by her "mother," played Jayne Houdyshell, an American theatre veteran making her Broadway debut. *
Obie Award winners Lisa Kron and Jayne Houdyshell will reprise the Well roles they created at The Public Theater. Daniel Breaker, Saidah Arrika Ekulona, John Hoffman and Christina Kirk will join them on stage. Leigh Silverman directs again.
Well is produced by Elizabeth I. McCann and Scott Rudin, Boyett Ostar, Roger Berlind and True Love Productions.
According to the producers, "Well opens with Lisa Kron's mother sitting on a La-Z-Boy recliner in the middle of the stage. As the play goes on to deal with Kron's personal experiences of healing, a comedic coup d'état breaks out. The actors critique the script, her memories conflict with her flashbacks, her mother interrupts with her own opinions, and Kron finds herself in danger of losing control. The result is a hilarious and brazen piece that questions our thoughts on the conventions of both theatre and wellness."
Well made its world premiere at the Public Theater in a lauded production in spring 2004. A refined version was subsequently seen on the West Coast. The Off-Broadway Public Theater production garnered Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, and Outer Critics Circle nominations and an Obie Award for Jayne Houdyshell's sympathetic portrayal of Kron's mother.
