Broadway NewsRevival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Starring Laurie Metcalf and Rupert Everett, Sets Broadway Home
By
Andrew Gans
September 16, 2019
Performances will begin in March 2020.
Laurie Metcalf and Rupert Everett
The 2020 Broadway revival of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? will play the Booth Theatre, currently the home of Freestyle Love Supreme through January 5, 2020.
Performances of the Tony-winning play will now begin performances March 3 (a day later than initially reported) prior to an official opening April 9.
As recently reported, stage and screen star Rupert Everett has replaced the previously announced Eddie Izzard in the forthcoming Broadway revival. Everett will star opposite two-time Tony and three-time Emmy winner Laurie Metcalf, Russell Tovey (History Boys, Looking, Angels in America), and 2019 Olivier Award winner Patsy Ferran. Two-time Tony winner Joe Mantello directs.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? will feature scenic design by Scott Pask, lighting design by nine-time Tony winner Jules Fisher and three-time Tony winner Peggy Eisenhauer, and costumes by Tony and Academy Award winner Ann Roth.
The play has previously been revived three times since its 1962 Broadway premiere, most recently in 2012 in a Tony-winning production (also at the Booth) with Tracy Letts, Amy Morton, and Carrie Coon.
Named after prominent American actor Edwin Booth, the theatre opened on October 16, 1913.
Booth Theatre auditorium
Created by Henry B. Herts, the theatre was a joint venture between aristocratic producer Winthrop Ames and impresario Lee Shubert.
Designed in an early Italian renaissance style, the theatre offered audiences a cozy house for the viewing of dramas and comedies.
In addition to an intimate 668-seat auditorium (later augmented to 785), according to newspapers at the time, the theatre also featured “designs in sgrafitto in brown and ivory, colors which harmonize with the exterior of the theatre, which is yellow brick and ivory terra cotta.”
The Booth opened with the first America production of Arnold Bennett’s play The Great Adventure, dramatized by him from his novel Buried Alive.
Throughout its history, the Booth has ushered in the Broadway debuts of hit shows such as the Sunday in the Park with George, Once on This Island, and Next to Normal.
In addition, the stage has seen performances from theatre legends including Bette Midler, Phylicia Rashad, and Patti LuPone.
