Mark Brokaw — who directed the early season entry of Reckless — will stage the work set to begin April 15 at the American Airlines Theatre. The limited engagement will officially open May 4 (the Tony Award eligibility cutoff) for a run through July 3.
The work examines trust, sex, lust and love through the marriage of a couple confronted with adultery. The couple is represented on stage by two pairs of actors — one set playing the other's alter egos.
Passion Play debuted at London's Royal Shakespeare Company in 1981 and earned the Evening Standard Award for Best Play. The drama reached Broadway — as simply Passion — in 1983 with Tony Award winner Frank Langella starring. The new Broadway cast and design team will be announced shortly.
Roundabout presented Nichols' A Day in the Death of Joe Egg in 2002 with Eddie Izzard and Victoria Hamilton as well as in 1984 with Jim Dale and Stockard Channing. The non-profit also staged a production of his Privates on Parade in 1988.
England-born playwright Nichols started his career writing plays for BBC television then the screenplays for "Catch Us If You Can" and "Georgy Girl" before penning his first stage drama A Day in the Death of Joe Egg. Other plays include The National Health, Forget-me-not Lane, Chez Nous, The Freeway, Born in the Gardens, Poppy, A Piece of My Mind, Blue Murder and Nicholodeon. Director Brokaw staged the Manhattan Theatre Club and Second Stage co-production of Reckless on Broadway with Mary Louise Parker. He has also recently staged Afterbirth: Kathy & Mo’s Greatest Hits and reteamed with How I Learned to Drive playwright Paula Vogel on the recent Off-Broadway stagings of The Baltimore Waltz and The Long Christmas Ride Home. Other credits include This Is Our Youth, The Dying Gaul, Lobby Hero, As Bees In Honey Drown in New York and A Little Night Music (Sondheim Celebration/ Kennedy Center) and the world premier of the musical Marty starring John C. Reilly (Boston's Huntington Theatre).
The Roundabout — which postponed the previously announced staging of Fool For Love to be directed by Ed Harris — also recently joined the producing team for the forthcoming Broadway revival of Glengarry Glen Ross. The troupe's 2004-2005 Broadway season has included After The Fall, Twelve Angry Men, Pacific Overtures and the upcoming A Streetcar Named Desire.
For tickets — available in March — to Passion Play at the American Airlines Theatre, 227 West 42nd Street, call Roundabout Ticket Services at (212) 719-1300 or visit them online at www.roundabouttheatre.org.
