Producers Elizabeth McCann and Terry Allen Kramer are planning to bring Art playwright Yasmina Reza's The Unexpected Man to Broadway this fall, or possibly next spring. Reza, who is French, won the 1998 Tony for best play for the Broadway hit Art, which is currently playing at the Royale Theatre.

As with Art, the London production of The Unexpected Man was directed by Matthew Warchus, translated from the French by Christopher Hampton, and designed by Mark Thompson. The 80-minute, one-act work is about a famous author and a lifelong fan who meet on a train bound from Paris to Frankfurt.

The production is scheduled to close in London Aug. 22.

McCann said she hoped to bring over the play's London stars, Michael Gambon and Eileen Atkins. Atkins last appeared in New York in the Broadway production of Jean Cocteau's Indiscretions, for which she won a Tony nomination. Gambon's last appearance on Broadway, in David Hare's Skylight, stirred up a fuss when Actors' Equity temporarily halted the actor's visit by questioning whether Gambon qualified as an established star under the actor exchange rules between the union and British Equity. (They decided he did so qualify.)

The Broadway production of Art was cast with two American actors (Victor Garber and Alan Alda) and one Britisher (Alfred Molina), none of whom appeared in the West End staging. McCann said she had not yet considered which theatre The Unexpected Man would fill.