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National Theatre's Revival of Jumpers to End Broadway Run on July 11
By Robert Simonson
17 Jun 2004
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Tony nominee Essie Davis in Jumpers
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| photo by Joan Marcus | The first Broadway revival of Tom Stoppard's Jumpers, ferried from London's National Theatre by producers Boyett Ostar Productions and the Nederlander Organization, will conclude its Broadway run on July 11.
The production will have played 112 performances and 23 previews. Though a brief run, it exceeds that of the original Broadway mounting, which lasted 48 performances and 3 previews.
The show earned four Tony nominations, including nods for stars Simon Russell Beale and Essie Davis, and director David Leveaux. The show itself was nominated for Best Revival of a Play. It took home no awards.
The philosophical circus, which opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre April 25, is Tom Stoppard's absurdist treatise of the nature of human morality in modern society.
Leveaux, of Nine and Fiddler on the Roof, directed the work, which is replete not only with Stoppard's typical mental gymnastics, but also actual gymnastics. Beale stars as George Moore, a faded and slightly foolish philosophy professor employed at a university whose slick, exercise-mad Vice-Chancellor Archie Jumper (Nicky Henson) forces a tumbling and leaping curriculum on the faculty. One such flipping prof, McFee, is shot dead in the cabaret chaos of the opening scene, setting off a suddenly very urgent philosophical duel on the moral nature of man.
Caught in between is Dotty (Davis), George's disturbed wife and Archie's "patient." Dotty, a former student of George's, ended a semi-successful stage career when the sight of astronauts on the moon unhinged her sanity. According to Dotty, the conquering of the moon revealed the human race—once scientifically and spiritually the center of the universe—as is actually is, "little, local."
In addition to the troupe of acrobats, the production employs a trapeze, a couple musical numbers, projections (depicting a moon landing gone awry), a live jazz combo (playing a variety of tunes about the now-forever-lost allure of the moon), a bow and arrow, a frequently-rotated scenic turntable and a symbolism-laden tortoise and hare.
Also in the cast are John Rogan as the university caretaker Crouch, Nicholas Woodeson as part-time Dotty groupie and full-time police inspector Bones, Eliza Lumley at an attentive but silent secretary, and Michael Arnold, Andrew Asnes, Clark Scott Carmichael, Tom Hildebrand, Michael Hollick, Don Johanson, Joseph P. McDonnell, Hillel Meltzer, Zachary Oberzan and Aaron Vexler.
Boyett Ostar Productions has a deal with the National allowing them first dibs on New York transfers.
This version of Jumpers began previews at London's National Theatre June 7, 2003. It transferred to the Piccadilly Theatre Nov. 14 prior to an official opening Nov. 20. The West End mounting closed March 6. The Broadway run was originally scheduled to close Aug. 22.
Jumpers was first produced at the Old Vic in 1972 with Diana Rigg and Michael Hordern.
The production features set designs by Vicki Mortimer, costumes by Nicky Gillibrand, lighting by Paule Constable, aerial choreography by Aidan Treays, music by Corin Buckeridge, sound design by John Leonard for Aura and video design by Dick Straker & Sven Ortel for Mesmer.
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