Directed by O'Brien, Lithgow's solo show will play Lincoln Center Theater's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater Sunday and Monday evenings April 20-June 2 with an official opening May 12. Show time for the 14-performance run is 7 PM. (Lithgow's show will coincide with Paul Rudnick's The New Century, which will also be seen on the Newhouse stage.)
Stories By Heart, according to press notes, is a "touching and funny meditation on the art and essence of storytelling. Invoking memories of his grandmother and father before him, Lithgow traces his own history as an actor and storyteller, a history spanning three generations, culminating in a tour-de-force performance of the P.G. Wodehouse story 'Uncle Fred Flits By,' in which the actor performs a bravura, forty-minute comic monologue, spouting Wodehouse's dazzling language – portraying nine distinct, outrageous characters with zany abandon."
John Lithgow was most recently on Broadway as con man Lawrence Jameson Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. His other recent theatrical credits include A.R. Gurney's political comedy Mrs. Farnsworth and The Retreat From Moscow. Lithgow won Tony Awards for his work in The Changing Room and Sweet Smell of Success and received Tony nominations for Scoundrels, Requiem for a Heavyweight and M. Butterfly. He was also seen in the "Dreamgirls" film as a 1970s Hollywood producer.
Tickets, priced $35, will go on sale March 17 at the Lincoln Center Theatre box office (150 West 65 Street), at telecharge.com or by visiting www.lct.org.