Alfred Molina and Jonathan Groff Will Appear in Red for L.A. Theatre Works; Production Will Be Recorded

By Adam Hetrick
20 Feb 2013

Jonathan Groff and Alfred Molina
Jonathan Groff and Alfred Molina
Photo by Craig Schwartz

Tony Award nominees Alfred Molina and Jonathan Groff will appear in the L.A. Theatre Works presentation of the Tony-winning John Logan play Red beginning March 14 at the James Bridges Theater.

Molina originated the role of painter Mark Rothko in the Donmar Warehouse production of the acclaimed two-man play that later transferred to Broadway. Molina earned a Tony Award nomination for his 2010 Broadway performance opposite Tony winner and "Les Misérables" film star Eddie Redmayne as Rothko's protegé.

Groff, a Tony Award nominee for Spring Awakening, joined Molina for the 2012 Los Angeles premiere of Red at the Center Theater Group in summer 2012.

The two will reunite for the March 14-17 performances under the direction of Rosalind Ayres.

Here's how the play was originally billed: "It's the 1950s and Rothko is working on a commissioned series of paintings for the new Four Seasons restaurant and his recently hired assistant is rapidly learning about the uncompromising aesthetic of his new boss. Though Rothko feels the threatening presence of a new generation of artists, he tells his assistant, 'There is only one thing I fear in life, my friend . . . One day the black will swallow the red.'"

All LATW performances are recorded and broadcast on LATW's nationally syndicated radio theatre series, "The Play's the Thing."

For more information visit latw.org. The James Bridges Theater is located in Melnitz Hall at 235 Charles E. Young Dr., Los Angeles, CA.