Jerusalem, With Mark Rylance, John Gallagher, Mackenzie Crook, Begins on Broadway April 2 | Playbill

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News Jerusalem, With Mark Rylance, John Gallagher, Mackenzie Crook, Begins on Broadway April 2 Jerusalem, the Jez Butterworth play about the indelible inhabitants of a slice of rural England, featuring Tony Award winner Mark Rylance in a performance acclaimed as positively titanic, begins a limited engagement at Broadway's Music Box Theatre April 2.

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Mark Rylance in Jerusalem Photo by Simon Annand

For his work in the London bow of the comic drama, Rylance (Boeing-Boeing, La Bête) won the 2010 Olivier Award and the 2009 Evening Standard and London Critics' Circle Best Actor Awards. The play won the 2009 Evening Standard and London Critics' Circle for Best Play.

The production, directed by Ian Rickson (Broadway's The Seagull), will open April 21; a limited 16-week engagement has been announced.

Jerusalem opened at the Royal Court Theatre in July 2009 with critics praising Butterworth for his comic elegy for a disappearing way of life in rural England. The production played an extended sold-out run at the Royal Court before moving to the Apollo Theatre in the West End in January 2010, where critics again embraced it.

Joining Rylance and Mackenzie Crook ("The Office" in the U.K.) as Ginger in the Broadway run are Tony Award winner John Gallagher, Jr. (Spring Awakening, American Idiot) as Lee, Max Baker (Cyrano de Bergerac) as Wesley, Geraldine Hughes (Translations) as Dawn and Molly Ranson (August: Osage County) as Pea, alongside seven members of the original Royal Court and West End company: Alan David as The Professor, Aimeé-Ffion Edwards as Phaedra, Danny Kirrane as Davey, Charlotte Mills as Tanya, Sarah Moyle as Ms. Fawcett, Harvey Robinson as Mr. Parsons and Barry Sloane as Troy Whitworth. Aiden Eyrick and Mark Page alternate in the role of Marky.

Mackenzie Crook
photo by Simon Annand
Here's how the producers characterize the play: "In the woods of South West England, Johnny 'Rooster' Byron (Mark Rylance), former daredevil motorcyclist and modern-day Pied Piper, is a wanted man. The council officials want to serve him an eviction notice, his son wants to be taken to the country fair, a stepfather wants to give him a serious kicking and a motley crew of friends wants his ample supply of drugs and alcohol." Rylance won enthusiastic reviews in 2010 for his performance as Valere in David Hirson's La Bête, on Broadway and in the West End, directed by Matthew Warchus. He won the 2008 Tony Award and Drama Desk for Best Actor in a Play and a Theatre World Award for his New York stage debut as Robert in Boeing-Boeing. He is a two-time winner of the Olivier Award for Jerusalem (2010) and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing (1993). Rylance was the artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe from 1996 to 2005 and also served as an associate actor of the RSC, acting in 48 plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries.

Butterworth is the author of five plays: Mojo (Royal Court 1995); The Night Heron (Royal Court 2002); The Winterling (Royal Court 2006); Parlour Song (Almeida 2009); and Jerusalem (Royal Court 2009). Rickson's Broadway credits include the critically acclaimed Royal Court Theatre production of Chekhov's The Seagull, starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Peter Sarsgaard and Mackenzie Crook, and Conor McPherson's The Weir.

The Jerusalem design team includes scenic and costume design by Ultz, lighting design by Mimi Jordan Sherin and sound design by Ian Dickinson for Autograph. The composer is Stephen Warbeck.

Performances are Tuesday at 7 PM, Wednesday at 2 and 8 PM, Thursday and Friday at 7 PM, Saturday at 2 and 8 PM and Sunday at 3 PM.

Tickets are available at www.telecharge.com. For more information, visit www.JerusalemBroadway.com.

 
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