The New York Post reports that Lansbury and fellow Tony winner Marian Seldes will co-star as two retired tennis players in McNally's play, which will be directed by Copenhagen's Michael Blakemore. Deuce is scheduled to begin previews in April 2007 at the Music Box Theatre with an official opening May 6.

Lansbury told the New York daily, "We all are floating around in the ether. It's a wonderful gig we're embarking on here." McNally's work, according to the Post, is "an autumnal but very funny play about two women at the end of their lives trying to make sense of a professional partnership that brought them to the top of the tennis world."

Scott Rudin, Stuart Thompson and Maberry Theatricals — in association with Primary Stages — will produce the Broadway bow of Deuce.

Another four-time Tony winner, Zoe Caldwell, had previously been mentioned to co-star with Seldes when the work was scheduled to play Off-Broadway's Primary Stages in March 2007.

Perhaps best known her for work as TV sleuth Jessica Fletcher on "Murder, She Wrote," Angela Lansbury is one of the most celebrated stars of the Broadway stage. She received Tony Awards for her performances in Sweeney Todd, Gypsy, Dear World and Mame, and she also appeared on The Great White Way in Hotel Paradiso, A Taste of Honey, Anyone Can Whistle, The King and I and A Little Family Business. Her numerous film credits include "Gaslight," "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and "The Manchurian Candidate," all of which brought the actress Academy Award nominations.