The hit London production of The Iceman Cometh starring Kevin Spacey is definitely coming to Broadway, said a spokesman in producer Emanuel Azenberg's office (Sept. 2). According to an Equity casting call notice, the Eugene O'Neill play will begin performances Mar. 29, 1999 and open Apr. 7 or 8. Azenberg's office could not confirm the dates.

The notice said the theatre was still to be determined. However, Jujamcyn Theatres president Rocco Landesman confirmed to Playbill On-Line June 18 that Iceman, originally planned for a fall transfer, will go into the Eugene O'Neill Theatre. The engagement will be a limited run of perhaps three months, added Landesman.

No other performers other than Spacey have been mentioned, but it looks as though the British import will feature an American cast.

In London, the hit O'Neill drama opened at the Old Vic on June 19 for a run through Aug. 1. The Almeida Theatre production, directed by Howard Davies (Almeida's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), was greeted with ecstatic reviews and sold-out performances upon opening.

The Iceman Cometh concerns the deluded pipe dreams of characters at Harry Hope's saloon who are confronted by Hickey (Spacey), a man who has broken free of his dreams and seeks to lead the others to do the same. Things come undone, however, when the reason for Hickey's transformation becomes known. The Iceman Cometh is the third, star-studded Almeida production to enjoy a West End run this season. Having opened Apr. 2, it followed David Hare's The Judas Kiss, starring Liam Neeson, and Pirandello's Naked, with Juliette Binoche.

Although best-known for his work in films such as The Usual Suspects, for which he won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, Seven and LA Confidential, Kevin Spacey's theatre credits are numerous. Broadway appearances have included Ibsen's Ghosts, O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night and Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers, for which he won a Tony award in 1991.

-- By Robert Simonson and David Lefkowitz