By Ernio Hernandez
22 Oct 2009

Merwin Goldsmith
photo by Aubrey Reuben

The New Group's Off-Broadway world premiere of Kenneth Lonergan's The Starry Messenger, starring Matthew Broderick and Catalina Sandino Moreno, will start later than expected.

Previews — which were originally slated for an Oct. 24 start — will now begin Oct. 26. A New Group spokesperson confirmed to Playbill.com that the delay is to allow for an ensemble cast change; Merwin Goldsmith will replace the previously announced Jonathan Hadary.

The scheduled opening night of Nov. 16 will also likely be pushed back, but no details have yet been announced. The Off-Broadway run at Theatre Row is set to play through Dec. 12.

Lonergan directs his play that also features J. Smith Cameron, Stephanie Cannon, Kieran Culkin, Grant Shaud and Missy Yager. Goldsmith has previously appeared with The New Group in Two Thousand Years. Other credits include Grand Hotel, Slab Boys, The Visit and Me and My Girl.

According to playwright Lonergan, the play "follows an astronomy teacher whose midlife crisis is thrown into relief by an unexpected affair that changes everything. It's set in 1995, the last year before the [Hayden] planetarium — one of the great NYC institutions — was torn down."

On the inspiration for The Starry Messenger, Lonergan says in production notes that the work "dates back to an astronomy course at The Hayden Planetarium that Matthew Broderick and I took as high school students growing up in New York City." He penned the new play specifically for Broderick.

Broderick has teamed with Lonergan previously on the films "You Can Count on Me" and the forthcoming "Margaret." The actor, who won Tony Awards for his work in Brighton Beach Memoirs and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, was last seen on Broadway in The Philanthropist. Other credits include The Producers, The Odd Couple, Biloxi Blues, Night Must Fall and Torch Song Trilogy. His various film credits include "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Glory," "The Cable Guy," "Election," "The Lion King" (in voice) and "Then She Found Me."

The Colombian-born Moreno earned a 2005 Academy Award nomination (among other accolades) for her role as a pregnant teen that becomes a drug mule in "Maria Full of Grace." Moreno has also appeared on film in Ethan Hawke's "The Hottest State" as well as "Paris, je t'aime," " Love in the Time of Cholera," "Che" and "Fast Food Nation."

The design team includes Derek McLane (set), Mattie Ullrich (costume), Jason Lyons (lighting) and Shane Rettig (sound).

The Starry Messenger marks Lonergan's first return to the New York stage since 2001's Lobby Hero. Other works include The Waverly Gallery, This Is Our Youth and the screenplays to "Gangs of New York" and "The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle."

The New Group season will continue in January with a revival of Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind, directed by Ethan Hawke and the world premiere of the new musical The Kid based on the book by Dan Savage. New Group artistic director Scott Elliott will stage the latter penned by Andy Monroe (music), Jack Lechner (lyrics) and Michael Zam (book).

Subscriptions to the season of The New Group at Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street (between 9th & 10th Ave.), are available by calling (212) 279-4200. For more information, visit TheNewGroup.org.