Director Robert Falls and his Chicago cast of five — including two-time Tony Award winner Brian Dennehy, stage and screen star Carla Gugino and Tony nominee Pablo Schreiber — will reunite at Broadway's St. James Theatre starting April 14; the extended Goodman run ends March 1 in Chicago.
Opening is April 27, three days before the end of eligibility for the 2009 Tony Awards. The producers are Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, and Steve Traxler.
A 13-week limited run is expected. A $1.9 million capitalization was mentioned in the New York Times.
Falls' visceral new production of O'Neill's Desire Under the Elms officially opened in Chicago Jan. 26. Falls cut ten characters out of the play, and streamlined it to 100 minutes, focusing on the turbulent family drama at the core.
He told Playbill.com Feb. 19 that the St. James is known as a large musical house but that the big themes of the script and stark production will fit well in the space. "It's an amazing key play that I think has been wildly overlooked," Falls told Playbill.com Feb. 19. "It's had more productions in Chicago than it has in New York. It's a remarkable American play about land, possession, ownership — ownership of land and of people…it's O'Neill's turning-point play where he really found his voice."
Falls chose to cut the Greek chorus-like townspeople from the script. "I don't think it was particularly successful," the director said, adding that the major Greek-drama passions, however, remain intact.
Desire began previews Jan. 17 in the Goodman's 856-seat Albert Ivar Theatre. During previews the run was extended by one week to March 1, owing to buzz and ticket sales. Gugino left the production Feb. 17 to address film publicity commitments (she's in the features "Watchmen" and "Race to Witch Mountain" in the coming weeks). Amy J. Carle plays the role til March 1.
The 1850-set naturalistic play shocked audiences when it first appeared on Broadway in 1924. A love triangle between an aging farmer, Ephraim Cabot (Dennehy), his young wife, Abbie (played by Carla Gugino), and his son, Eben (played by Pablo Schreiber), does not end happily.
Falls' Goodman (and Broadway) cast also includes Boris McGiver ("The Wire") and Daniel Stewart Sherman (Broadway's Cyrano de Bergerac), playing Eben's sweaty half-brothers.
For Desire, Falls reassembled the design team from his 2006 critical and popular hit, King Lear, including Walt Spangler (set design), Ana Kuzmanic (costume design), Michael Philippi (lighting design) and Richard Woodbury (original music and sound design). Their work will be see on Broadway.
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Falls previously stated, "Desire Under the Elms is iconic. A highly passionate, shocking drama of three people tangled in lust and loathing, it's the first great tragedy from the writer who I consider to be the American Shakespeare — our country's greatest and most influential playwright. It was necessary for me to reinterpret this play with my longtime collaborator Brian Dennehy — who is considered by many to be one of the great O'Neill interpreters in the world — with two actors of remarkable depth and substance, Carla Gugino and Pablo Schreiber, to complete the devastating love triangle."
Desire Under the Elms is performed in one act with no intermission. The production contains nudity.
According to Goodman notes, "Master American playwright Eugene O'Neill conceived Desire Under the Elms as he slept one night, imbuing it with the emotional pitch of a fever dream. Ephraim Cabot returns to his remote New England farmhouse with his third wife — the alluring, headstrong young Abbie — launching his three grown sons into a bitter fight for their inheritance. When Ephraim's youngest son sets his sights on Abbie, the resulting tempest brings tragic consequences."
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| photo by Eric Y. Exit |
Carla Gugino (Abbie Putnam) made her Broadway debut in Roundabout Theatre Company's 2004 revival of Arthur Miller's After the Fall, for which she received an Outer Critic's Circle Award nomination and a Theater World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut for her role as Maggie. She followed that with her acclaimed portrayal of Catherine Holly in the Tennessee William's classic Suddenly Last Summer, also for Roundabout. Film credits include "American Gangster," "Righteous Kill," "The Lookout," the "Spy Kids" Trilogy and "Sin City," among others.
Pablo Schreiber (Eben Cabot) received a Tony Award nomination for his Broadway debut in Awake and Sing! Other theatre credits include Reasons To Be Pretty at MCC Theatre; Dying City at Lincoln Center Theater; Mr. Marmalade at Roundabout Theatre Company; Manuscript at Daryl Roth Theatre; Sin: A Cardinal Deposed at The New Group; and more.
Boris McGiver (Peter Cabot) appeared in Off-Broadway's The Overwhelming at Roundabout Theatre Company; nine Shakespeare productions with Vanessa Redgrave, Mark Wing-Davey, Steven Berkoff, Brian Kulick and many others at The Public Theater; Cymbeline with Bartlett Sher and Andorra with Liviu Ciulei at Theatre for a New Audience; Book of Days at Signature Theatre, and more.
Daniel Stewart Sherman (Simeon Cabot) appeared on Broadway in Cyrano de Bergerac, A Touch of the Poet, Henry IV and The Full Monty.
For more information visit GoodmanTheatre.org.
