Tony Danza will make a return to the Great White Way when he appears as Rocky the Bartender in the star-studded revival of The Iceman Cometh. The move had been rumored since December but was confirmed Jan. 11, by a production spokesperson.
Though best-known for his television work with "Who's the Boss," and "Taxi," Danza made his Broadway debut last year, taking over the lead in A View from the Bridge from Anthony LaPaglia, receiving largely positive reviews. Danza's Broadway stay was short lived, however, as View failed to find an audience and soon closed.
Danza will join the already announced cast of Kevin Spacey, Robert Sean Leonard and Paul Giamatti, as well as London cast originals: Tim Pigott Smith, James Hazeldine, and Patrick Godfrey, all under the helm of Howard Davies.
Previews for Iceman begin March 29, 1999 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre for an April 8, 1999 opening and a limited engagement through June, 1999.
In London, the hit O'Neill drama opened at the Old Vic on June 19, 1998 for a run through Aug. 1. The Almeida Theatre production, directed by Howard Davies (Almeida's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), was greeted with ecstatic reviews and sold-out performances upon opening. The Iceman Cometh concerns the deluded pipe dreams of characters at Harry Hope's saloon who are confronted by Hickey (Spacey), a man who has broken free of his dreams and seeks to lead the others to do the same. Things come undone, however, when the reason for Hickey's transformation becomes known.
The Iceman Cometh is the third, star-studded Almeida production to enjoy a West End run this season. Having opened Apr. 2, it followed David Hare's The Judas Kiss, starring Liam Neeson, and Pirandello's Naked, with Juliette Binoche.
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Although best-known for his work in films such as "The Usual Suspects," for which he won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, Seven and "L.A. Confidential," Kevin Spacey's theatre credits are numerous. Broadway appearances have included Ibsen's Ghosts, O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night and Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers for which he won a Tony award in 1991.
Giamatti appeared on Broadway in a star-studded 1997 Three Sisters, but his most recognizable role to date was as "Pig Vomit" in the Howard Stern film, "Private Parts." Sean Leonard is a frequent theatre presence in New York, appearing in Candida, You Never Can Tell and Philadelphia, Here I Come!.
