In Mothers and Sons, Obie and Drama Desk Award winner Frederick Weller (Glengarry Glen Ross, Take Me Out) plays Cal Porter opposite Daly's Katharine Gerard. Tony Award nominee Bobby Steggert, recently seen on Broadway in Big Fish, reprises the role of Will Ogden, which he created in the world-premiere engagement at Bucks County Playhouse. Grayson Taylor plays Bud Ogden-Porter.
"Having an actor like Tyne Daly in the role of Katharine Gerard, a role I wrote for her but with no guarantee that she would agree to play it, was my best bet that the play I heard in my head was the play that would be heard at the Golden," McNally wrote in a Playbill magazine feature. "It wasn't just Tyne's voice I was writing for: it was her sensibility and her soul, as well. I know what makes her laugh; I like to think I know what makes her deeply care, as well."
About Katharine, Daly told Playbill.com, "She's real, I know that. She's complicated. She's a product of her own time. She has a heart like a fist, in terms of how she's experienced personal grief. Grief has closed her down, and she's been holding onto it for a very long time... I love her."
Directed by Tony Award nominee Sheryl Kaller (Next Fall), Broadway previews began Feb. 23. Daly and Kaller also repeat their work from the June 2013 Bucks County production.
Mothers and Sons had its world-premiere production at Bucks County, under the producing direction of Jed Bernstein, June 13-23, 2013. The Broadway incarnation is produced by Tom Kirdahy, Roy Furman, Paula Wagner and Debbie Bisno, and Barbara Freitag and Loraine Alterman Boyle. The play, according to press notes, "is a timely and provocative new play that explores our evolving understanding of family in today's world. At turns funny and powerful, Mothers and Sons follows a woman (Daly) who pays an unexpected visit to the New York apartment of her late son's ex-partner (Weller), who is now married to another man (Steggert) and has a young son. Challenged to face how society has changed around her, generations collide as she revisits the past and discovers a new connection she never expected."
Mothers and Sons marks McNally's 20th Broadway production and the 50th anniversary of his Broadway debut. His others include Bad Habits; The Ritz; The Rink; Kiss of the Spider Woman; Love! Valour! Compassion!; Master Class; Ragtime; The Full Monty; and Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.
The design team for Mothers and Sons includes scenic designer John Lee Beatty, costume designer Jess Goldstein, lighting designer Jeff Croiter and sound designer Nevin Steinberg.
The John Golden Theatre is located at 252 W. 45th Street. For more information, visit MothersAndSonsBroadway.com.
