Gugino Says Goodbye to Chicago Desire Feb. 17

By Kenneth Jones
17 Feb 2009

Carla Gugino and Brian Dennehy
Carla Gugino and Brian Dennehy
Photo by Liz Lauren

Carla Gugino, critically acclaimed for her turn as feverish wife Abbie Putnam in Goodman Theatre's lauded Desire Under the Elms, leaves the production after the Feb. 17 performance to address a movie commitment.

She'll be replaced on Feb. 18 by Chicago actress Amy J. Carle, the understudy, for the final two weeks of the run. The talked-about — but not officially announced — plan of commercial producers is to bring the staging to Broadway, with the original Windy City cast intact.

Per a pre-production arrangement, Gugino (Broadway's After the Fall, Off-Broadway's Suddenly Last Summer, TV's "Entourage," and the movies "Sin City" and "Spy Kids") departs Desire to fulfill press commitments for the releases of her films "Watchmen" and "Race to Witch Mountain," both opening in early March.

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Goodman artistic director Robert Falls stages the classic, which was recently extended by popular demand to March 1. Gugino's co-stars are Brian Dennehy (Goodman's Death of a Salesman, Long Day's Journey Into Night) and Pablo Schreiber (Lincoln Center's Dying City, Broadway's Awake and Sing). Together, they form a love triangle that catches fire on a 19th-century New England farm.

The production is the centerpiece of the Goodman's landmark theatrical event, "A Global Exploration: Eugene O'Neill in the 21st Century." Desire Under the Elms at Goodman's 856-seat Albert Ivar Theatre has been hailed by critics, and has commercial Broadway producers circling.

Falls' cast also includes Boris McGiver ("The Wire") and Daniel Stewart Sherman (Broadway's Cyrano de Bergerac).

Carle makes her Goodman debut in Desire Under the Elms. Her Chicago credits include Honus & Me at Chicago Children's Theatre, Hedda Gabler at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Refuge at CollaborAction for which she was nominated for a Jeff Award, Mom's the Word at Royal George Theatre, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble and The Winter's Tale at Footsteps.

For more information visit GoodmanTheatre.org.