The New York Times is reporting that Mary-Louise Parker, currently starring in Off-Broadway's Proof, has "opted out" of Roundabout's Desire Under the Elms, and that the entire production of Desire will in fact be replaced by "another play directed by David Leveaux."

As recently as June 14, Parker told Playbill On-Line she was staying with Proof "until the end of July," and that she would be joining the cast of Desire at Roundabout this fall. At that time, Roundabout spokespersons could not confirm any casting on the production and did not anticipate any casting announcements until August.

Director David Leveaux, who recently worked on the Broadway production of The Real Thing, was scheduled to helm the Roundabout production of Eugene O'Neill's play at the American Airlines Theatre. It would have been the third time Leveaux has directed an O'Neill play on Broadway.

Leveaux's Broadway productions include two other O'Neill plays -- Anna Christie with Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson (Tony Award for Best Revival) and A Moon for the Misbegotten (Tony nomination for Outstanding Direction). Desire would have been his third shot at directing O'Neill on Broadway. For the Royal Shakespeare Company, Leveaux directed 'Tis Pity She's a Whore and Romeo and Juliet. For the Royal National Theatre, Leveaux directed Strindberg's The Father. Since 1993, he has been artistic director of Theatre Project Tokyo, Japan, where other productions included Yukio Mishima's Modern Noh Plays, The Changeling, Hedda Gabler and Mishima's version of Jean Cocteau's Two Headed Eagle.

Leveaux's opera credits include The Turn of the Screw for Scottish Opera; The Marriage of Figaro, and Richard Strauss's Salome at the English National Opera. The Roundabout production of Desire was scheduled to run at the American Airlines Theatre directly after the The Man Who Came to Dinner, which stars Nathan Lane. Dinner, RTC's first show at the American Airlines Theatre on West 42nd Street, begins previews June 30.

-- By Murdoch McBride