The Broadway production of The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, which began previews March 21, and opened on April 9 at the Ambassador Theatre, will close on July 23. It will have played 23 previews and 120 regular performances.
Mt. Morgan received its share of good notices and even netted a couple of Tony nominations. But all that was overshadowed in notoriety by star Patrick Stewart's post-performance speeches, in which he pilloried the Shuberts for what he viewed as insufficient marketing of the play. Stewart made his remarks twice from the Ambassador stage, about halfway through the production's Broadway run. The Shuberts, not amused, responded by filing a complaint with Actors' Equity. The hearing that followed resulted in Stewart's having to apologize to the producers. Grosses in recent weeks have been well below 50 percent of potential.
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Returning from last season's Off-Broadway mounting at the Public Theater, Stewart played megalomaniacal bigamist and businessman Lyman Felt, and Frances Conroy was his first wife. Also held over from the first cast were Oni Faida Lampley and John Vennema.
New to the cast were Katy Selverstone (Scotland Road at OB's Primary Stages), who played Felt's second wife, Leah, and Shannon Burkett, as daughter Bessie. Meg Gibson played Leah and Kali Rocha played Bessie at the Public Theater. The design team includes John Arnone (sets), Elizabeth Hope Clancy (costumes), Brian MacDevitt (lighting) and Dan Moses Schreier (original music).
The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, directed at the Public and again on Broadway by former CSC artistic director, David Esbjornson, looks at a bigamist who's devoted his life to the sybaritic indulgences of the Reagan era, only to find his values challenged when he's confronted with a near fatal car accident -- and both wives come to visit him. Other Miller plays include All My Sons, The Price and The Last Yankee.
