Producer Elizabeth McCann told PBOL (April 27) that negotiations continue to cement a deal bringing Nick Nolte to play opposite Eileen (Indiscretions) Atkins in the upcoming Unexpected Man by Yasmina (Art) Reza.

Although, McCann had previously told PBOL last year that the show would play OB's Promenade Theatre in September 1999, rather than a Broadway engagement, a star of Nolte's caliber may mean a Broadway move. McCann told PBOL, "We don't know where it would play, but Nick's more concerned with it going to the right venue (than whether or not it would be on Broadway)."

The West End production starred Atkins and Michael Gambon, with Atkins winning the Olivier Award as Best Actress in the Play for her performance as the lifelong fan of a writer, who finds herself sitting across from him on a train. The play's running time is 80 minutes.

Matthew Warchus directed the April 1998 London production of Man at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Warchus directed both the London and New York productions of Art; Christopher Hampton translated both Reza plays from French.

Reza's Art is still running on Broadway after winning the Tony Award in 1998 for Best Play. Atkins' other New York credits include A Room's of One's Own and Vita and Virginia. In both, she played novelist Virginia Woolf.

-- By Sean McGrath