Roger Rees and Laura Linney have joined the Roundabout production of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya which stars Derek Jacobi. The play is scheduled to open April 13, 2000 at Roundabout's new home, the former Selwyn Theatre. The Mike Poulton translation of Vanya will be directed by Michael Mayer.
Rees's stage credits include The End of the Day, (Obie award) Indiscretions, (Tony nomination) The Misanthrope, and Love's Labor Lost, Cymbeline, and Othello for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Rees garnered Tony and Olivier awards for his performance in Nicholas Nickelby and first appeared at the Roundabout in The Rehearsal.
Linney appeared in Honor, Holiday, The Seagull, and Six Degrees of Separation. She received a Drama Desk nomination for her Off Broadway performance in Sight Unseen and first appeared at the Roundabout in Hedda Gabler.
Tony Award-winner Derek Jacobi's film credits include "Hamlet," "The Secret Garden," "Breaking the Code," "Dead Again" and "Henry V." Jacobi was last seen on Broadway in the 1987 production of Breaking the Code and won his Tony for Much Ado About Nothing in 1985.
The Roundabout production of Uncle Vanya is hotly anticipated on two levels; first for the theatrical production itself, but also because this will be the first production in the leading nonprofit's new home, the former Selwyn Theatre on West. 42nd Street. Reconstruction on the venue continues apace.