Not to Be: Broadway Plans for Shakespeare Comedy The Beard of Avon Nixed | Playbill

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News Not to Be: Broadway Plans for Shakespeare Comedy The Beard of Avon Nixed The lauded New York Theatre Workshop staging of Amy Freed's The Beard of Avon, which was thought to be ripe for a transfer to Broadway, will not, in fact, make the leap to a commercial run.

Producer Roy Gabay told The New York Time that he would not try to bring the Shakespearean comedy to Broadway. "With what's happening to plays on Broadway — good plays with stars like The Retreat From Moscow, Anna in the Tropics — producers are getting nervous," Gabay told the paper.

Tim Blake Nelson, the character actor who has appeared in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" and "The Good Girl," starred in the Off-Broadway run of the play which posed an answer to the age-old question about the authorship of William Shakespeare's complete canon.

The play began performances Oct. 31, 2003 at NYTW's 79 East 4th Street space. The show opened Nov. 18, 2003 to positive critical response and played through Dec. 21, 2003.

Mary Louise Wilson (Cabaret, The Women) playing Queen Elizabeth, Kate Jennings Grant (Radiant Baby, Proof) playing wife Anne Hathaway and Mark Harelik (Old Money) reprising the role of Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford — which he created at the South Coast Repertory world premiere staging and Chicago's Goodman Theatre run — also starred. Timothy Doyle, James Gale, Tom Lacy, Alan Mandell, David Schramm, Justin Schultz and Jeff Whitty filled out the ensemble under the direction of Doug Hughes.

For more information on New York Theatre Workshop, visit www.nytw.org.

 
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