Closer, the Patrick Marber play which has announced a spring 1999 opening for Broadway, may move into the newly refurbished Music Box Theatre (last home to 1997's revival of The Diary Of Anne Frank), according to the Oct. 5 Theatrical Index. Rumors, including posts on the bulletin boards of Closer's own official site, have Rupert Graves in the cast. Graves was most recently of the Almedia and West End stagings of the Kevin Spacey The Iceman Cometh, set to open on Broadway April 8, 1999.

According to production spokesman John Barlow, no theatre, cast or dates have yet been confirmed for the Broadway mounting.

Patrick Marber's play Closer -- which originally planned to only run at London's Lyric Theatre through July -- has now announced its closing as Oct. 31.

Closer examines a modern quartet of young lovers caught up in a web of love, sex and betrayal. The production originally opened in the RNT's Cottesloe Theatre in May 1997 before transferring to the larger Lyttelton theatre in October where it finished its run last February. It then transferred to the West End's Lyric Theatre, where it is still running. The Lyric cast features Liza Walker as Alice, Neil Pearson as Larry, Lloyd Owen as Dan and Frances Barber as Anna.

Closer won the Evening Standard Drama Award for Best Comedy, the Time Out Award for Best Play in the West End 1997, the 1997 Critics' Circle Best Play Award and the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play. Marber is the author of Dealer's Choice, which played at New York's Manhattan Theatre Club in 1997.

The London production of Closer has an official website at http://www.closer.co.uk.