The Roundabout Theatre has rounded up an all-star cast for its Broadway revival of Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters, opens Feb. 13 for a limited run through April 6.
The cast features Amy Irving, Lili Taylor, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Billy Crudup, David Strathairn, and Eric Stoltz.
The entire cast boasts solid theatre credits: Irving starred off-Broadway in Athol Fugard's The Road to Mecca in 1988, and in Arthur Miller's 1994 Broken Glass on Broadway. Prior to becoming the princess of American independent cinema as star of such features as Dogfight and I Shot Any Warhol, Lili Taylor acted in the East Village's LaMama Experimental Theatre Company, and is currently a member of the Naked Angels, an acting company that counts among its members Rob Morrow, Marisa Tomei, Fisher Stevens, and Nancy Travis. Tripplehorn costarred with Val Kilmer in JoAnne Akalaitis' acclaimed production of 'Tis Pity She's a Whore at the Public Theater in 1992. She has gone on to costar in such movies as The Firm and Waterworld.
Billy Crudup attracted wide acclaim for his portrayal of the tutor in Tom Stoppard's Arcadia at Lincoln Center in 1995, and has gone on to star in Bus Stop at Circle in the Square. Crudup's star appears on the rise, with the actor nabbing roles in such high profile films as the upcoming Sleepers and Inventing the Abbotts Stoltz last appeared on Broadway in 1992's Two Shakespearean Actors, and before that in Lincoln Center Theater's Our Town revival in 1988. Stoltz is currently costarring in The Importance of Being Earnest off-Broadway at Irish Rep. Lincoln Center was also the location for David Strathairn's latest New York stage appearance, in Stoppard's Hapgood. The actor, known more for character roles in John Sayles movies, also starred in American Conservatory Theater's production of The Tempest inaugurating the company's newly renovated Geary Theater in January 1996.
The Three Sisters will be directed by Scott Elliott, the hot director who had four major productions in New York in 1996: Mike Leigh's Ecstasy, Stephen Bill's Curtains , and Christopher Kyle's The Monogamist, the former two with the director's theatre company, The New Group. Barely taking time to catch his breath, Elliott then made his Broadway debut in November with the Frank Langella revival of Noel Coward's Present Laughter. For Three Sisters tickets or information, call Roundabout at 212-869-8400.
By a strange coincidence, the Roundabout Three Sisters will wind up being only the second production of the Chekhov play on Broadway this season. A visiting Russian company, the Sovremminick Theatre of Moscow, is scheduled to perform the classic -- in the original Russian -- at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in November.
