Anna in the Tropics Box Office to Open on Sept. 22

By Robert Simonson
September 19, 2003

The box office for the Broadway production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Nilo Cruz play Anna in the Tropics, set to begin at the Royale Theatre on Nov. 1, will open on Sept. 22.

The show will officially open on Nov. 16. Anna began performances at New Jersey's McCarter Theatre on Sept. 9; it will continue there until Oct. 19.

Berlind, who characterized Anna as a "beautiful play," previously told Playbill On-Line that the Manhattan production would likely retain the New Jersey cast, which is led by Jimmy Smits, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Priscilla Lopez and John Ortiz.Rounding out the cast are Vanessa Aspillaga and David Zayas. Officially casting is expected soon.

Playwright Cruz — a former McCarter artist-in-residence — has set his play in a Cuban-American cigar factory in 1929. The factory employs "lectors" to entertain and educate the factory workers, and a new lector who reads aloud from Anna Karenina becomes "a catalyst in the lives of his avid listeners, for whom Tolstoy, the tropics, and the American dream prove a volatile combination."