Bill Kenwright — who financially recouped with the recent revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof — will produce the new staging of this other Williams gem, to be staged by David Leveaux. The long-rumored production will see the stage Feb. 12, 2005 towards a March 3, 2005 opening, according to a casting notice.
Lange is set to play Amanda Wingfield in the St. Louis-set drama alongside Ethan Hawke as Amanda's son Tom. Previous reports had Hawke in the role of Jim O'Connor (The Gentleman Caller) with Tony Award winner Robert Sean Leonard joining the duo onstage as Tom. The role of Laura has yet to be cast though Natalie Portman has been said to be in talks.
The Music Box has previously been mentioned as a possible venue. Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance, which begins previews Nov. 5, is slated to end its limited engagement at the venue March 13, 2005. Production spokespersons could not confirm any details.
Lange has appeared on Broadway in the 1992 revival of A Streetcar Named Desire as Blanche Du Bois opposite Alec Baldwin. The actress won Academy Awards for her roles in "Blue Sky" and "Tootsie" and she was also Oscar-nominated for her work in "Music Box," "Sweet Dreams," "Country" and "Frances."
Hawke was recently seen on Broadway Henry IV and previously in the 1992 revival of The Seagull. The actor received an Academy Award nomination for his work in "Training Day." His numerous other screen credits include "Dead Poets Society," "Waterland," "Floundering," "Reality Bites," "Great Expectations," "Snow Falling on Cedars," "Hamlet," "Tape" and "The Newton Boys." Leonard was most recently on Broadway in Richard Greenberg's The Violet Hour. He won a Tony Award for his performance in The Invention of Love and received nominations for his work in Long Day's Journey Into Night and Candida. Portman, seen on film in "Garden State" and the upcoming "Closer," has performed on Broadway in The Diary of Anne Frank and Off-Broadway in The Seagull.
Director Leveaux is currently represented on Broadway by the revival of Fiddler on th Roof. He has been Tony Award-nominated for his stagings of Jumpers, Nine, The Real Thing, Anna Christie and A Moon for the Misbegotten. Other Broadway credits include Betrayal and Electra.
The Glass Menagerie premiered on Broadway at the Playhouse Theatre in 1945. Directed by Eddie Dowling and Margo Jones, the original production featured Laurette Taylor as Amanda, Eddie Dowling as Tom, Julie Haydon as Laura and Anthony Ross as Jim. The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts presented the Tennessee Williams play this summer starring Sally Field as Amanda.
