A production spokesperson at the Roundabout Theatre Company has confirmed that Yasmina Reza's The Unexpected Man will not be running at Roundabout's Gramercy Theatre in January as earlier reported. Producers have delayed the show's production here.

Martin Sherman's Rose which recently starred Olympia Dukakis at the Royal National Theatre in London, has been put forward as a possibility to fill the slot at the Gramercy. The play involves the life of a woman in the context of the Jewish Diaspora.

The confirmation follows recent reports in the press that Unexpected Man producers were unable to lock in a male lead to star opposite Eileen Atkins, who created her role in London in 1998. Atkins' London co star, British actor Michael Gambon, was briefly considered for the New York run of The Unexpected Man, but had not been associated with the project since. Nick Nolte had also once been attached to the project.

Director Matthew Warchus, who had been named to helm The Unexpected Man, will instead be directing Sam Shepard's True West at Circle in the Square. Though not cast, True West may open as early as February.

-- By Murdoch McBride