The acclaimed new staging of Ibsen's classic, Hedda Gabler, starring Kate Burton and directed by Nicholas Martin, has found a home. As expected, it will play the Ambassador Theatre (until June 10, the home of A Class Act) beginning Sept. 19. Opening night is Oct. 4.
Hedda closes at the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston on Jan. 28. A spokesperson for the company said that the run must end — despite the glowing reviews the show has won from Boston, New York and national critics — in order to leave sufficient time to build the set for Huntington's next attraction.
As reported earlier by PBOL, Hedda had been planning to open on Broadway this spring, but opted for a fall 2001 bow instead. "Initially, we were hoping we'd finish up here and literally come in [to New York] at the beginning of February," Burton told Playbill On-Line on Jan. 5. The current lack of available Broadway theatres, however, has thrown a wrench into that timetable. "The fall is looking more and more like a wonderful time," said Burton. "When we do it we want to do it right. We want to do it with enough lead time."
Burton stated that a summer opening was not an option, as she spends the season with her husband, Michael Richie, the producer of the June-to- September Williamstown Theatre Festival.
* Hedda began previews in Boston Dec. 29 and opened Jan. 3 to rosy reviews from the usually tough Boston Globe and Boston Herald. The show began life at Williamstown. Repeating performances they played there, as well as at the Bay Street Theatre in Long Island, are Burton, Michael Emerson, David Lansbury and Harris Yulin. They play Hedda, Tesman, Lovborg and Judge Brack, respectively.
Burton was last seen on the New York stage in Brian Friel's Give Me Your Answer, Do!. Emerson has become a mainstay in New York theatre in recent years, emerging in the title role in Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, and going on to co-star in Give Me Your Answer, Do! and The Iceman Cometh. Lansbury's credits include Hapgood at Lincoln Center Theater. Yulin (The Diary of Anne Frank), a veteran with over 40 years experience, last appeared on Broadway in The Price..
Also in the Boston cast are Jennifer Van Dyck (the Huntington's recent hit production of Dead End) and Maria Cellario.
