The agent of Page and Sills confirmed that Page replaces the announced Sills in Shakespeare's bloody tragedy about grabbing for the throne of Scotland. Shakespeare Theatre artistic director Michael Kahn directs. Kelly McGillis will be Lady Macbeth.
Sills accepted a film set to shoot in Europe prior to starting rehearsals for Broadway's Spamalot late in the year, his agent told Playbill On-Line.
Tony Award nominee Douglas Sills earned his nomination for The Scarlet Pimpernel, and recently played the evil dentist in Broadway's Little Shop of Horrors.
Macbeth plays The Shakespeare Theatre Aug. 31-Oct. 24.
With the so-called "Scottish Play," The Shakespeare Theatre "explores one of the most profound studies of evil ever written," according to the company's announcement. "Storms rage, fires burn and night blankets the earth in this tale of sound and fury, which follows the fall of the once-noble Macbeth and his ambitious lady. With writing so poetically rich it is deemed operatic, Macbeth gives us a king with an insatiable lust for power and no chance against fate." Page, who is married to Chicago's Paige Davis (also of TV's "Trading Spaces"), performed in Broadway's Beauty and the Beast and The Kentucky Cycle. He's no stranger to classics, having appeared in productions of Richard II, Cyrano, Hamlet, Macbeth, Henry V, Richard III and more.
McGillis (of Hollywood's "Witness," "Top Gun" and "The Accused") returns to the company, having played As You Like It, Mourning Becomes Electra, Twelfth Night, Merchant of Venice, Measure for Measure, Much Ado About Nothing and The Duchess of Malfi there.
Designers will be Linda Cho (costumes, in a Jacobean style), John Coyne (set) and Michael Chibowski (lighting).
The Shakespeare Theatre's current attraction is Cyrano de Bergerac, directed by Kahn, to Aug. 1. For more information, visit www.shakespearedc.org.
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The Shakespeare Theatre's 2004-05 season includes Shakespeare's Pericles, Alfred de Musset's Lorenzaccio, Shakespeare's The Tempest and Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan.
