|
 |
Hedda Gabler, Starring Parker, Cerveris, Stormare and Sparks, Begins Broadway Run
By Kenneth Jones
06 Jan 2009
 |
|
Hedda Gabler star Mary-Louise Parker with Michael Cerveris, Paul Sparks and Peter Stromare
|
| photo by Nigel Parry (MLP) | Tony Award winner Mary-Louise Parker exercises a trigger finger starting Jan. 6, with the first Broadway preview of Christopher Shinn's new adaptation of Hedda Gabler, the Henrik Ibsen classic about an unhappily married woman in 1880s Norway.
Shinn is the acclaimed playwright of Dying City (a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), Four, On the Mountain, Other People, The Coming World, What Didn't Happen, Where Do We Live and The Sleepers.
The company also includes Swedish-born actor Peter Stormare, making his Broadway debut, as venal Judge Brack; Tony Award winner Michael Cerveris (Assassins, Sweeney Todd, Road Show, The Who's Tommy) as Hedda's dry professor-husband Jorgen Tesman; Paul Sparks (of Broadway's Take Me Out and Off-Broadway's Lady, Pumpgirl, Essential Self Defense and Finer Noble Gases) as Ejlert Lovborg; Lois Markle (Broadway's True West, The Grapes of Wrath, national tour of Three Tall Women) as maid Berte; Ana Reeder (Broadway's Top Girls, Sight Unseen) as Mrs. Thea Elvsted; and Helen Carey (a Tony nominee for Roundabout's London Assurance) as Miss Juliane Tesman, Tesman's aunt.
Ian Rickson (who directed the acclaimed 2008 Broadway production of The Seagull, first seen in London) stages the classic 1890 Ibsen tragedy for the Roundabout Theatre Company at the American Airlines Theatre on 42nd Street. Opening is Jan. 25. This is a limited engagement through March 29.
According to Roundabout, in "this new interpretation of Henrik Ibsen's modern classic," Hedda is "a woman of dangerous independence restrained by a conventional marriage. [She] indulges in a cruel game, amusing herself with the misfortune she inflicts on those around her. As Hedda struggles to balance her wild desires against her chosen life, she sets into motion a manic chain of events that bring her story to a chilling end."
Parker is a Best Actress Tony winner for Proof, nominee for Reckless, and star of TV's "Weeds." Off-Broadway, she starred in Dead Man's Cell Phone; How I Learned to Drive (Obie, Lucille Lortel Awards; Outer Critics Circle nomination); Communicating Doors; Four Dogs and a Bone; The Art of Success; Babylon Gardens. Her films include "The Spiderwick Chronicles"; "The Assassination of Jesse James"; "Fried Green Tomatoes"; "Grand Canyon"; "Boys on the Side"; "The Client"; "Naked in New York"; "Bullets Over Broadway"; "Longtime Companion"; "Saved!" and more. She is a two-time Emmy Award nominee for "Weeds," for which she won a Golden Globe.
Swedish-born actor-director Stormare recently wrapped production on feature films "The Killing Room" with Chloe Sevigny, "Straight Edge, Insanitarium" for Screen Gems, and "Horsemen" for Mandate Pictures. He can be seen opposite Willem Dafoe in "Anamorph" and "Witless Protection" with Larry the Cable Guy, which were both released this year. He also starred in "Premonition" with Sandra Bullock, "Unknown," "The Brothers Grimm" opposite Matt Damon, "Constantine" with Keanu Reeves and "Birth" with Nicole Kidman. Stormare starred as John Abruzzi on the first season of the hit Fox television drama "Prison Break." He began his acting career in his native land at the Royal National Theater of Sweden under the direction of the legendary Ingmar Bergman where he performed leading roles in Long Day's Journey Into Night, Miss Julie, King Lear and Hamlet.
The design team includes Hildegard Bechtler (sets), Ann Roth (costumes), Natasha Katz (lights), John Gromada (sound), Peter Owen (wigs), Ivana Primorac (makeup and hair design). The literal translation of the play is by Anne-Charlotte Harvey. James FitzSimmons is production stage manager. Bryce McDonald is stage manager. Original music is by PJ Harvey.
The company also includes understudies Opal Alladin, Peter Bradbury, Lucy Martin and Ray Virta.
Roundabout Theatre Company has produced Ibsen's Hedda Gabler (1994, Broadway), An Enemy of the People (1985), The Master Builder (1983), Hedda Gabler (1981), Little Eyolf (1979), John Gabriel Borkman (1976), Rosmersholm (1974) and The Master Builder (1971).
Adaptor Shinn was born in Hartford, CT, and lives in New York. His plays have been premiered by the Royal Court, Lincoln Center, Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, the Vineyard Theatre, South Coast Rep, and Soho Theatre. He is a winner of an Obie Award in Playwriting, and a Guggenheim Fellowship in Playwriting. He has received grants from the NEA/TCG Residency Program and the Peter S. Reed Foundation, and he is recipient of the Robert S. Chesley Award. He teaches playwriting at the New School for Drama.
Ticket prices range from $66.50 to $111.50.
For tickets, visit the American Airlines box office (227 West 42nd Street) or call Roundabout Ticket Services at (212)719-1300 or visit www.roundabouttheatre.org.
For more information, visit heddaonbroadway.com.
*
Through ACCESS Roundabout, 100 tickets will be available for the first preview performance (Jan. 6) for only $10 each.
Contact Us | Advertise | Privacy Policy
Send questions and comments to the Webmaster
Copyright © 2009 Playbill, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
|
|
|
|
|