Star-Cast London Three Sisters May Reach Broadway | Playbill

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News Star-Cast London Three Sisters May Reach Broadway Kristin Scott Thomas was Masha, Kate Burton played Olga, and Madeleine Worrall was Irina in a recent, celebrated Michael Blakemore-directed production of Chekhov's Three Sisters in London, and, if all goes well, the trio may soon repeat the roles on Broadway.

Elizabeth I. McCann, one of the producers of the London run, confirmed that she was working toward a Broadway transfer of the production. The other London producers were Howard Panter (for the Ambassador Theatre Group), and Matthew Mitchell.

The New York Post reported that much depended on the contracting of Thomas, the biggest star of the three. Thomas, familiar from such films as "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and "Gosford Park," was widely praised for her Masha. Others in the London cast included David Antrobus as Rode, Sebastian Bates as Fedotik, Robert Bathurst as Vershinin, Tom Beard as Solyony, David Burke as Chebutykin, James Fleet as Kulygin, Douglas Hodge as Andrei, Margery Mason as Anfisa, Tobias Menzies as Tusenbach, Eric Sykes as Ferapont and Susannah Wise as Natasha.

The creative team for Three Sisters included Robin Don (set design), John Bright (costume design), Mark Henderson (lighting design) and Paul Arditti (sound design) with music by Richard Storry.

Kate Burton made her London debut in the Chekhov play. She received two Tony Award nominations in 2002 for her work in the revivals of Hedda Gabler and The Elephant Man.

* Broadway's last look at Chekhov's classic was a Scott Elliott-directed affair in 1997 at the nonprofit Roundabout Theatre Company. Prior to that, the last few decades have seen only brief runs mounted by nonprofit and/or institution groups. The Moscow Sovremennik Theatre Company presented a five-show run in 1996. The City Center Acting Company, headed up by John Houseman, gave the drama a seven-performance airing in 1973. As head of The Acting Company, Houseman brought Sisters back in 1975, again for seven shows only. The American National Theatre and Academy, meanwhile, had a comparatively luxurious eleven-show stay in 1969.

In fact, Three Sisters' last all-out commercial run at Broadway was back in 1942, when director Guthrie McClintic and star Katharine Cornell had a sit-down for 123 shows. The production remains the longest-lived Sisters to grace Broadway. If McCann and Company secure the hoped-for 16-week run and earn box office reviews, the new outing could well break that record.

 
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