The hit McCarter Theatre production of Electra is considering Broadway's Barrymore Theatre as its possible New York home. Producer Eric Krebs told Playbill On-Line that he and the other producers were going to look at the theatre for the first time Oct. 16. He cautioned, however, that the show's move was not definite and nothing had been signed.
Electra gave its last performances at Princeton's McCarter Theatre Oct. 4. Soon after the tragedy opened to rave reviews, producers began to discuss a commercial transfer to New York. Krebs said he hoped matters would be settled by next week.
The show stars Zoe Wanamaker in the title role and Claire Bloom as Clytemnestra. The company also included Pat Carroll (as the Chorus Leader), Stephen Spinella and Michael Cumpsty. The play marks director David Leveaux’s first American outing since directing Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson in the Roundabout Theatre Company's production of Anna Christie. *
In other McCarter news, playwright-director and McCarter Artistic Director Emily Mann (Execution of Justice, Having Our Say) will premiere her new play, Meshugah, this fall. Mann adapted the drama from Yiddish novelist Isaac Bashevis Singer's story of the same name, in which Aaron Greidinger, a struggling writer, falls in love with the mistress of a friend. The play is scheduled to run Oct. 20-Nov. 8. No cast has been announced. Mann's last work, Having Our Say, transferred from the McCarter to a Broadway run.
The third show of the season will be Two Sisters and a Piano (Feb. 16-Mar. 7, 1999), a world premiere by playwright Nilo Cruz (A Park in Our House). Set in Cuba in 1991, it tells of two women under house arrest whose fates are toyed with by a military official. No director has been selected.
Two classic comedies round out the mainstage season: Moliere's The School for Wives (Mar. 23-Apr. 11, 1999), in Richard Wilbur's translation; and Noel Coward's Design for Living (May 4-23, 1999), directed by Stephen Wadsworth. McCarter's Second Stage was to see the world premiere of Yehuda Hyman's The Mad Dancers (Jan. 11-28, 1999), but that work (subtitled "A Mystical Comedy with Ecstatic Dance") has been cancelled.
For information of the season, call (609) 683-8000.
