Directed by David Hare, the production will officially open March 29 for a limited engagement of 24 weeks. Maureen Anderman is Redgrave's standby.

In the new play Redgrave, according to press notes, "relives the unforgettable night in Joan Didion's life when, even as her only child lay in a coma, her husband of 40 years, writer John Gregory Dunne, died suddenly of a massive coronary as they sat down to dinner in their New York apartment. Capturing the compassion, humor, and bewilderment of a fiercely intelligent woman whose world lurches suddenly from the ordinary to the unimaginable, The Year of Magical Thinking is a love letter to a child and a tribute to an extraordinary, unconventional marriage told with raw candor and a storyteller's gift for the absurd."

Tony Award winner Bob Crowley has designed the sets, with costumes by Ann Roth, lighting by Jean Kalman and sound by Paul Arditti. BT McNicholl is the associate director.

Redgrave won a Tony Award for her performance as Mary Tyrone in Long Day's Journey Into Night. A revered star of stage and screen, she has been nominated for six Oscars and won for "Julia."

Producers are Scott Rudin, Roger Berlind, Daryl Roth, Debra Black and The Shubert Organization with executive producers Stuart Thompson and John Barlow.

The Booth Theatre is located in Manhattan at 222 West 45th Street. Tickets, priced $76.25-$96.25, are available by calling (212) 239-6200 or by visiting www.telecharge.com.