Scott Ellis (1776, She Loves Me) directs the new staging of the classic Reginal Rose jury-room drama which began previews Oct. 1 and opened Oct. 28 at the American Airlines Theatre. The work originally was slated for a limitied engagement through Dec. 19 and has extended seven times.
The company also announced the Ellis staging will embark on a national tour to be presented in association with Clear Channel Entertainment slated for a 2006-2007 season start. Washington D.C.'s John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is the only stop announced thus far.
The tour will feature the same design team as the Broadway production and will be cast from auditions to be held in the fall.
The Broadway extension will not affect the recently announced revival of W. Somerset Maugham's The Constant Wife starring Kate Burton and to be directed by Mark Brokaw next at the American Airlines Theatre. The new staging is set for a May 27 start and June 16 opening for a limited engagement through August 7.
* Set in a jury room,Twelve Angry Men tells the story of a murder trial in which a youth is alleged to have killed his father. The case seems like an open-and-shut situation as eleven of the unnamed jurors believe the defendant to be guilty. Juror #8, however, is not so certain, stirring up the room and setting off a number of arguments.
The anonymous deciding dozen are currently Mark Blum (The Graduate) as Juror #1, Kevin Geer (Side Man) as Juror #2, Robert Foxworth (Candida, "Six Feet Under") as Juror #3, James Rebhorn (Dinner at Eight) as Juror #4, Michael Mastro (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) as Juror #5, Robert Clohessy (Rounding Third, "Oz") as Juror #6, John Pankow (Barbra's Wedding, "Mad About You") as Juror #7, Boyd Gaines (Contact, Cabaret) as Juror #8, Tom Aldredge (Twentieth Century, Into the Woods) as Juror #9, Peter Friedman (Ragtime, The Heidi Chronicles) as Juror #10, Byron Jennings (The Foreigner, Sight Unseen) as Juror #11 and Adam Trese (A View From The Bridge) as Juror #12. Matte Osian plays a guard.
Twelve Angry Men has proven the most popular Roundabout staging at its current home, the American Airlines Theatre, since the company's reopening of the venue in 2000. The Rose drama will have outrun the longest running production in the space by more than two times: the 2001 revival of Clare Boothe Luce's The Women — starring Kristen Johnston, Cynthia Nixon and Jennifer Tilly played 13 weeks. By May 15, Twelve Angry Men will have played 32 weeks. (The former Selwyn Theatre was home to the long-running Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman 1927 comedy The Royal Family which played 345 performances.)
Tickets to Twelve Angry Men at the American Airlines Theatre, 227 West 42 Street are available by calling (212) 719-1300. For more information, visit www.roundabouttheatre.org.
