Kevin Spacey will be reunited with four of his original British co-stars when he takes the stage in the Broadway remounting of his London triumph, The Iceman Cometh. Patrick Godfrey will be Cecil Lewis, James Hazeldine will play Harry Hope, Clarke Peters will play Joe Mott and Tim Pigott-Smith is Larry Slade. All four starred in the London production of the Eugene O'Neill play.
Godfrey and Hazeldine have previously bowed on Broadway -- Godfrey in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby and Hazeldine in Strange Interlude with Glenda Jackson. Peters starred as Sky Masterson in the Royal National Theatre's revival of Guys & Dolls and Pigott-Smith is perhaps most recognizable as Merrick from the TV mini-series "The Jewel in the Crown."
Actor and sitcom mainstay Tony Danza has been offered the role of the bartender in the upcoming revival, said Danza's agent's office. The actor has not yet accepted.
Earlier this year, Danza took over the lead from Anthony LaPaglia in the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of The View from the Bridge , receiving largely positive reviews. Danza's Broadway stay was short lived, however, as View failed to find an audience and soon closed.
Previews for Iceman begin March 29, 1999 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre for an April 8, 1999 opening and a limited engagement through June, 1999. Robert Sean Leonard will also be in the cast. No other performers have been announced. In London, the hit O'Neill drama opened at the Old Vic on June 19 for a run through Aug. 1. The Almeida Theatre production, directed by Howard Davies (Almeida's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), was greeted with ecstatic reviews and sold-out performances upon opening.
The Iceman Cometh concerns the deluded "pipe dreams" of characters at Harry Hope's saloon who are confronted by Hickey (Spacey), a man who has broken free of his dreams and seeks to lead the others to do the same. Things come undone, however, when the reason for Hickey's transformation becomes known.
The Iceman Cometh is the third, star-studded Almeida production to enjoy a West End run this season. Having opened Apr. 2, it followed David Hare's The Judas Kiss, starring Liam Neeson, and Pirandello's Naked, with Juliette Binoche.
Although best-known for his work in films such as "The Usual Suspects," for which he won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, "Seven" and "L.A. Confidential," Kevin Spacey's theatre credits are numerous. Broadway appearances have included Ibsen's Ghosts, O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night and Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers for which he won a Tony award in 1991 (the film role, however, went to Richard Dreyfuss).
