The McCarter Theatre revival of Sam Shepard's Fool for Love may be in New York's future. The Princeton, NJ theatre is hoping to interest a producer in the Gotham transfer of the production, which plays the McCarter's main stage Sept. 14-Oct. 3.
Shepard has paid a visit to the theatre and is soundly behind the staging, said a McCarter spokesperson. Fool for Love is directed by McCarter artistic director Emily Mann and stars James Morrison and Laila Robins [sic] (The Herbal Bed) as Eddie, a typical wandering cowboy, and May, his childhood sweetheart.
McCarter struck gold last season when its production of Electra, starring Zoe Wanamaker, traveled to New York and became the critically praised, surprise hit of the season. The producer of that move, Eric Krebs, is also reportedly looking at Fool for Love.
Shepard's work has rarely appeared on Broadway, the last instance being the lauded Steppenwolf Theatre Company revival of Buried Child, starring Lois Smith and James Gammon and directed by Gary Sinise. Two years ago, the Signature Theatre Company devoted its entire season to Shepard.
* In other McCarter news:
When director Andre Ernotte died last March, composer Polly Pen lost her ideal collaborator. Pen and Ernotte teamed on several projects, including Pen's Bed and Sofa and Christina Alberta's Father, both of which played to acclaim at the Vineyard. With her newest musical, Night Governess, due at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton next season, Pen found herself without Ernotte's services for the first time in years.
Well, Night Governess will not go rudderless. Pen has selected Lisa Peterson to fill Ernotte's shoes. Peterson has a list of extremely varied credits behind her, including Tony Kushner's Slavs, Donald Margulies' The Model Apartment and, most recently, The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek at New York Theatre Workshop.
The work, inspired by the Louisa May Alcott thriller "Behind the Mask," is the darkly comic story of a quiet young woman who comes to teach a household in the art of manipulation as she twists each family member to her own designs. Pen workshopped the musical at the McCarter in November 1998 with Judith Blazer, Alma Cuervo (Titanic ) and Emily Skinner (Side Show) in the cast.
New Jersey's McCarter Theatre has announced the productions for its 1999-2000 season, the 10th anniversary for artistic director Emily Mann. They are:
* Fool for Love, Sept. 14-Oct. 3.
* Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, Oct. 19-Nov. 7, directed by Daniel Fish, with incidental music by Polly Pen.
* David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross, with a director to be announced. Glengarry, a savagely funny look at small-time real estate salesmen, won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize and was made into a 1992 film with Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino and Kevin Spacey. Other Mamet plays include Oleanna, Speed The Plow and The Cryptogram.
* Southern novelist Cormac McCarthy's The Stonemason, a world premiere directed by Mann. Stonemason traces four generations of an African-American family living in Louisville, Kentucky in the 1970's as they struggle to remain tied to their land and to each other.
* Polly Pen's The Night Governess.
To subscribe to the McCarter Theatre's season ($80 and up), call the box office at (609) 258-2787. The McCarter Theatre is located at 91 University Place.
-- By Robert Simonson and Christine Ehren
