Shue's The Foreigner Returns To Off-Broadway 20 Years Later with Matthew Broderick
By Ernio Hernandez
07 Nov 2004
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Matthew Broderick in The Foreigner
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| photo by Joan Marcus | Larry Shue's comedy The Foreigner opens Off-Broadway, Nov. 7 — 20 years after its debut — with stage and screen actor Matthew Broderick now in the title role.
Scott Schwartz (Golda's Balcony) directs the Roundabout Theatre Company revival that started previews Oct. 15 for a limited run through Jan. 16, 2005 at the Laura Pels Theatre.
Matthew Broderick (The Producers) and Frances Sternhagen (Morning's at Seven) star in the work with Kevin Cahoon (Hedwig & The Angry Inch, The Lion King), Mary Catherine Garrison (Assassins, Debbie Does Dallas), Neal Huff (Take Me Out, The Lion in Winter), Byron Jennings (Sight Unseen, Noises Off) and Lee Tergesen ("Oz," The Exonerated).
Larry Shue's farce, The Foreigner, is about an Englishman (Broderick) who discovers many secrets while on American holiday under the guise of a foreigner who speaks no English.
Broderick won Tony Awards for his turns in Brighton Beach Memoirs and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Other credits include Biloxi Blues, Night Must Fall, Taller Than a Dwarf, On Valentine's Day, Torch Song Trilogy and The Widow Claire. His various film credits include "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Glory," "The Cable Guy," "Addicted to Love," "Election," "Inspector Gadget," "You Can Count on Me" "The Stepford Wives," "Marie and Bruce" and the forthcoming "Strangers With Candy" and "The Producers" movies.
Sternhagen was last on Broadway in the 2002 revival of Morning's at Seven. She won Tony Awards for The Heiress and The Good Doctor. Other stage credits include Equus, On Golden Pond, Grownups, The Sign in Sydney Brustein's Window, Angel, You Can't Take It With You, Home Front, Driving Miss Daisy and The Exact Center of the Universe.
The design team for The Foreigner features Anna Louizos (sets), David Murin (costumes) and Pat Collins (lights).
Larry Shue, a New Orleans native, first found fame as a playwright at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre. He died in a airplane accident in the 1985, but not before two of his scripts, The Nerd and The Foreigner, were established as hits. Both enjoyed successful New York runs — The Foreigner Off-Broadway, The Nerd on Broadway — and have since been produced countless times in the regions.
Jerry Zaks directed The Foreigner Off-Broadway, where it ran nearly two years at the Astor Place Theatre. Anthony Heald played Charlie while Shue himself played the supporting role of "Froggy" LaSueur. Also in the cast were future playwright Robert Schenkkan, Patricia Kalember, Kevin Geer and, in a bit part, Donna Bullock.
Director Schwartz staged the play in 2002 at the Berkshire Theatre Festival with Peter Scolari starring. Other credits include Broadway's Golda's Balcony, Off Broadway's Bat Boy: The Musical and tick, tick... BOOM!
For tickets to The Foreigner at the Laura Pels Theatre, 111 West 46 St., call Roundabout Ticket Services at (212) 719-1300 or go online to www.roundabouttheatre.org.
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Mary Catherine Garrison (left), Matthew Broderick, Kevin Cahoon and Frances Sternhagen in The Foreigner
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| photo by Joan Marcus |
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