FRANK LANGELLA RETURNING TO BROADWAY, STACY KEACH TO PLAY HIS "NIXON" ROLE ON THE ROAD.
Three-time Tony-winner Frank Langella will be returning to Broadway in a revival of "A Man for All Seasons," playing Sir Thomas Moore. It's always good news when Langella, one of our greatest stage actors, returns to the boards. Langella, who can make anything interesting, has delighted audiences with rich, plummy performances in shows ranging from Bram Stoker's "Dracula" to Turgenev's "Fortune's Fool." He most recently was seen on Broadway playing a dark, dour, self-destructive Richard Nixon in "Frost/Nixon."
But if Langella is going to be playing Sir Thomas Moore on Broadway this season, that means he won't be available to star in the national tour of "Frost/Nixon." And that drama requires a commanding star to work. Well, they've found one for the tour. None other than Stacy Keach will be taking the vrole of Nixon which Langella played on Broadway. The versatile Keach is no stranger to playing presidential figures. He first came to prominence evoking Lyndon Johnson in "Macbird."
The official announcements about these two new productions follow....
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ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY
Is pleased to announce the full cast joining 3-Time Tony Award® Winner
FRANK LANGELLA
In a new Broadway production of
A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS
By Robert Bolt
Directed by Doug Hughes
The cast will include:
Hannah Cabell, Michael Esper, Zach Grenier, Dakin Matthews, George Morfogen,
Patrick Page, Maryann Plunkett, Michael Siberry, Jeremy Strong
Charles Borland, Peter Bradbury, Patricia Hodges, Triney Sandoval, Emily Dorsch
Preview performances will begin on September 12th, 2008
Opening night is October 7th, 2008
On Broadway at the American Airlines Theatre
Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) is pleased to announce the full company joining 3-Time Tony Award® Winner Frank Langella as “Sir Thomas More” in a new Broadway production of Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons, directed by Tony Award® Winner Doug Hughes.
The cast will include Hannah Cabell (Margaret More), Michael Esper (William Roper), Zach Grenier (Thomas Cromwell), Dakin Matthews (Cardinal Wolsey), George Morfogen (Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop), Patrick Page (King Henry VIII), Maryann Plunkett (Alice More), Michael Siberry (Duke of Norfolk), Jeremy Strong (Richard Rich), Charles Borland (Jailor), Peter Bradbury (Steward), Patricia Hodges (Woman), Triney Sandoval (Thomas Chapuys) and Emily Dorsch.
The design team will include Santo Loquasto (sets), Catherine Zuber (costumes), David Lander (lights), David Van Tieghem (original music & sound) and Tom Watson (hair & wigs).
A Man for All Seasons will begin previews on Friday, September 12th, 2008 and open officially on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 at the American Airlines Theatre on Broadway (227 West 42nd Street). This will be a limited engagement through December 7th, 2008.
A Man for All Seasons is a timeless exploration of politics, religion and power. Robert Bolt’s classic drama is based on the fascinating true story of English Chancellor Sir Thomas More and his moral objection to King Henry VIII’s plan to leave the Catholic Church.
Frank Langella returns to Broadway following his Tony winning role in Frost/Nixon in 2007. Langella returns to Roundabout Theatre Company following the 1997 Off-Broadway production of Cyrano de Bergerac in which he starred, directed and adapted the book. Other Roundabout productions include The Father (1996) and The Tempest (1989). Doug Hughes is a Resident Director at Roundabout Theatre Company where he recently directed Patrick Marber’s Howard Katz, Eugene O’Neill’s A Touch of the Poet, Richard Greenberg’s comedy A Naked Girl on the Appian Way, Jon Robin Baitz’s The Paris Letter and Stephen Belber’s McReele. Hughes earned the 2005 Tony®, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Lucille Lortel Awards for Best Direction of John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt.
A Man for All Seasons premiered on Broadway in 1961 and won the Tony Award for Best Play. In 1966, the play was made into a feature film and went on to win six Oscars. This production marks the play’s first Broadway revival!
TICKET INFORMATION:
Tickets are available by calling Roundabout Ticket Services at (212)719-1300, online at www.roundabouttheatre.org or at the American Airlines theatre box office (227 West 42 Street).
A Man for All Seasons will play a limited engagement. Ticket prices range from $66.50 to $111.50.
Through ACCESS Roundabout, 100 tickets will be available for the first preview performance (September 12th) for only $10 each.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:
A Man for All Seasons will play Tuesday through Saturday evening at 8:00 p.m. with Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m.
BIOGRAPHIES:
FRANK LANGELLA (Sir Thomas More). Broadway: Peter Morgan’s Frost Nixon, Belber's Match, Turgenev's Fortune's Fool, Strindberg's The Father, Coward's Present Laughter, Schaffer's Amadeus, Rabe's Hurlyburly, Nichols' Passion, Albee's Seascape, Coward's Design for Living, Marowitz's Sherlock's Last Case, Hamilton-Dean's Dracula, Gibson's A Cry of Players, Lorca's Yerma. Off-Broadway: Rostand's Cyrano, Miller's After the Fall, Lowell's The Old Glory: Benito Cereno, Webster's The White Devil, Von Kliest's The Prince of Homburg, Gide's The Immoralist, Pendleton's Booth, Shakespeare's The Tempest, and A Christmas Carol (Menken/Ahrens). Films: Good Night, and Good Luck; Superman Returns; Starting Out in the Evening (2007); Lolita; Dave; The Ninth Gate; Dracula; 1492; The Conquest of Paradise; Those Lips, Those Eyes; I'm Losing You; Diary of a Mad Housewife; The Twelve Chairs; The House of D; Back in the Day. Directors include George C. Scott, Arthur Penn, Roman Polanski, Adrian Lyne, Sir Peter Hall, Mike Nichols, Susan Stroman, Ivan Reitman, Ridley Scott, George Clooney, Bryan Singer, Denys Arcand, and Mel Brooks. Upcoming film: Frost/Nixon directed by Ron Howard released by Universal in December, The Box directed by Richard Kelly and All Good Things directed by Andrew Jarecki. Television: PBS' "Eccentricities of a Nightingale" and Chekhov's "The Seagull," ABC's "The Beast," HBO's "The Doomsday Gun", Vonnegut's "Monkey House" for Showtime and HBO’s “Unscripted” executive produced by George Clooney. Honors: Induction into the 2003 Theatre Hall of Fame, three Tonys, six Drama Desks, three Obies, three Outer Critics Circles, the Drama League, the National Society of Film Critics, the Cable Ace Award, as well as Golden Globe, Emmy and Olivier nominations, an Independent Spirit Award nomination and the Boston Film Critics Award . Several dozen roles in America's leading regional theatres include Hampton's Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Anouilh's Ring Round the Moon, Whiting's The Devils, Bolt's A Man for All Seasons, Lerner & Loewe's My Fair Lady, Shepard's The Tooth of Crime and Barker's Scenes from an Execution.
HANNAH CABELL (Margaret More). Broadway debut. Off-Broadway: Pumpgirl (Manhattan Theatre Club), Jane Eyre (The Acting Company), and Millicent Scowlworthy (SPF); other New York credits include Gentleman Caller (Clubbed Thumb), Mark Smith (13P), and Uncivil Wars (Pickup Performance Company). Regional: Dial M for Murder (Barnstormers Theatre); Sedition and Mary’s Wedding (Westport Country Playhouse). Training: MFA, NYU/Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Acting.
MICHAEL ESPER (William Roper). Recently in Itamar Moses' The Four of Us (MTC)and Edward Albee’s Me Myself and I (McCarter). NY: Crazy Mary and Manic Flight Reaction (Playwrights Horizons), subUrbia (Second Stage), The Agony and the Agony (Vineyard), As You Like It (NYSF/Public Theater), Big Bill (Lincoln Center), Gone Missing (Zipper), Moon Bath Girl (EST). Regional: Long Day’s Journey Into Night (dir. Garry Hines, Gaeity Theatre, Dublin), Blur (Dallas Theater Center), American Buffalo (Two River), Henry Flamethrowa (Trinity Rep), Drawer Boy (Penguin Rep.). Film: Bittersweet Place (dir. Alexandra Brodsky), Loggerheads (dir. Tim Kirkman), Light and the Sufferer (dir. Chris Peditto). Michael attended the B.F.A. program at Rutgers University. Associate Artist of The Civilians. AEA member.
ZACH GRENIER (Thomas Cromwell). Broadway: Voices in the Dark. Theatre includes: Tartuffe (McCarter & Yale Rep), Stuff Happens (NYSF, Drama Desk & Drama League Awards for Outstanding Ensemble), Art (Royal George Theatre, Chicago, Jefferson Award nominee), A Question of Mercy (NY Theatre Workshop, Drama League Award), Uncle Vanya (Yale Rep). Film: Fantastic Four: Rise of Silver Surfer, Zodiac, Rescue Dawn, Pulse, Swordfish, Fight Club and more. TV: “CSI” (all 3), “Cold Case”, “Numbers”, “The Nine” (recurring), “Deadwood” (recurring), “24” (recurring), “Medium” and more.
DAKIN MATTHEWS (Cardinal Wolsey). Broadway: Shakespeare’s Henry IV (Bayfield Award for acting, Drama Desk Award for adaptation). Off-Broadway: Freedomland (Playwrights Horizons), The School For Scandal, The Hostage, The Lower Depths, and Women Beware Women (Acting Company). Recent Regional: Shadowlands (LADCC Award), Hitchcock Blonde, Hamlet, and Major Barbara (OC Weekly Award) for South Coast Rep; The History Boys, Stuff Happens, Romeo and Juliet, and Water & Power with Culture Clash (Ovation and LADCC Awards) for Center Theatre Group; The Prince of L.A., Twelfth Night, Julius Caesar, and The Merry Wives of Windsor for the Old Globe Theatre; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Dallas Theater Center); Hamlet (The Shakespeare Theatre, D.C).; and the title role in King Lear (Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre). Film: over twenty films, including The Fighting Temptations, The Muse, The Siege, And the Band Played On, Clean and Sober. TV: over 200 shows including recurring roles on The King of Queens, Gilmore Girls, Desperate Housewives & Huff. Also former artistic director of California Actors Theatre, Berkeley Shakespeare Festival and The Antaeus Company, an Associate Artist of the Old Globe Theatre, a director, a dramaturge, an award-winning playwright and translator, a Shakespeare scholar, and an Emeritus Professor of English (Cal State, East Bay).
GEORGE MORFOGEN (Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop). Broadway: Fortune’s Fool, An Inspector Calls, Arms and the Man, John Gabriel Brokman, Kingdom. Off-Broadway includes: Antony and Cleopatra (Theatre for a New Audience), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Delacotre), The Madras House (Mint), Richard II (Classic Stage, Bayfield Award), Heartbreak House (Pearl), Othello (Public), Uncle Bob (Soho Playhouse) and more. TV: “The Jury”, “Oz”, “Law and Order” and more.
PATRICK PAGE (King Henry VIII). Broadway: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Grinch), The Lion King (Scar), The Kentucky Cycle, Beauty and the Beast (Lumiere), A Christmas Carol (Scrooge—standby for Roger Daltry). Off-Broadway: Rex (title role), Richard II (NYSF). Regional: Leading roles at Long Wharf (Sergius), Oregon Shakespeare (Marc Antony, Autolycus, Brazen, etc.), Pioneer Theatre Co. (Cyrano, Richard III, Henry V), Alabama Shakespeare (Richard II), Utah Shakespeare (Iago, Brutus, Armado, Jaques, Richard III, etc.), Indiana rep (Hamlet), Missouri Rep (Mercutio), Arizona Theatre Co. (Dracula), as well as Seattle Rep, ACT, Cincinnati Rep, and many others. Patrick is recipient of the Princess Grace Award, The Joseph Jefferson Award and the Utah Governor’s Medal for the Arts.
MARYANN PLUNKETT (Alice More). Broadway: Saint Joan, The Seagull, Little Hotel on the Side, The Crucible, Me and My Girl (Tony Award), Sunday in the Park with George, Agnes of God. Off-Broadway: Rodney’s Wife (Playwrights Horizons), Aristocrats (MTC). National Tour: Agnes of God, Great Expectations. Regional includes: Rodney’s Wife (World premiere at Williamstown), Park Your Car in Harvard Yard (Westport & Harvard), Jane Eyre (Geva), The Crucible (Long Wharf), Saint Joan (Huntington). Film: The Squid and the Whale, Center Stage, Fools Rush in and more. TV: guest leads on “Law and Order”, “Star Trek”, “LA Law”, “Murder She Wrote” and more.
MICHAEL SIBERRY (Duke of Norfolk). Broadway credits include Gratiano in The Merchant of Venice with Dustin Hoffman and Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music opposite Rebecca Luker. As a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Michael performed such roles as Parrolles in All’s Well That Ends Well, Petrucchio in The Taming of the Shrew and Nicholas in Nicholas Nickleby, which toured to Los Angeles and Broadway. London credits include Billy Flynn in Chicago and Giles in Alan Ayckbourne’s House & Garden at the National Theatre of Great Britain. He has recently starred in the American National tour of Spamalot. Also Peter Hall’s As You Like It (Theatre Royal, Bath and BAM), Candida (McCarter Theatre) and Uncle Vanya (McCarter Theatre and LaJolla Playhouse). Film and TVcredits include: Silent Witness, The Grand, Jeeves and Wooster, Under the Hammer and Victoria & Albert. Graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney.
JEREMY STRONG (Richard Rich). Theatre: David Ives’ New Jerusalem (CSC / Walter Bobbie Dir.); Richard Nelson’s Conversations in Tusculum (Public Theater, Richard Nelson Dir.); Richard Nelson’s Frank’s Home (Playwrights Horizons & Goodman / Robert Falls Dir.); John Patrick Shanley’s Defiance (MTC/ Doug Hughes Dir.); A Matter of Choice (John Gould Rubin Dir.); Conor McPherson’s Rum and Vodka (The Belt); Harold Pinter’s The Dwarfs, JT Roger’s White People (Williamstown Non-Eq); Fuddy Meers (Steppenwolf School); Look Back in Anger, American Buffalo, Marat/Sade, The Indian Wants the Bronx (Yale); Richard III (RADA). Film: M Night Shyamalan’s The Happening / 20th Century Fox; starring in upcoming independent Humboldt County. Training: Williamstown Act One, Steppenwolf School, RADA Shakespeare Intensive. BA in English from Yale University.
CHARLES BORLAND (Jailor). Roundabout Broadway: Twelve Angry Men (National Tour), A Streetcar Named Desire, Roundabout Off-Broadway: A Shot In The Dark, MITF; Missing Celia Rose, SPF; Deathvariations, 59E59; Lascivious Something, Cherry Lane; Dirty Story, LAByrinth; Out of Sterno, Cherry Lane. Regional: Hamlet, Long Wharf; The Merchant of Venice, Portland Center Stage; Smash, The Old Globe. Television: "New Amsterdam," "Numb3rs", "Law & Order: CI", "Jonny Zero," "Whoopi," "Third Watch," "Ed," "Hack," "All My Children," "Guiding Light," "As The World Turns," "One Life To Live." Film: Honored, Into The Fire. Training: The Juilliard School; London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).
PETER BRADBURY (Steward). Broadway: The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, The Herbal Bed. Roundabout: The Overwhelming. Off-Broadway: Back From the Front (The Working Theater), Bulrusher (Urban Stages), Snakebit (Century Theater), Passion Play (Minetta Lane Theater), Surviving Grace (Union Square Theater), A Late Supper (Maverick Theater). Regional: Pittsburgh Public, Cleveland Playhouse, Alliance Theater, Rep. Theater of St. Louis, Berkeley Rep., Coconut Grove Playhouse, Walnut St. Theater and American Conservatory Theater among many others. Television: “Sally Hemings” (CBS miniseries), “Law and Order” (NBC) “Law and Order Criminal Intent” (NBC), “Rescue Me” (FX), “Another World” (NBC), “Guiding Light” (CBS), “One Life to Live” (ABC), “As the World Turns” (CBS) “All My Children” (ABC).
PATRICIA HODGES (Woman). Broadway: Design for Living and Lion in Winter (Roundabout), The Best Man, Dancing at Lughnasa, Sisters Rosensweig, Six Degrees of Separation. Off-Broadway: Woman Before Glass (standby for Mercedes Ruehl), Rose’s Dilemma (MTC), Communication Doors (Variety Arts), On the Verge (Acting Company), The Normal Heart (NYSF). National Tour: Carousel. Regional includes: Night of the Iguana (ACT, Seattle and Guthrie), Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Pittsburgh Public), 3 Tall Women (Center Stage), The Seagull (Dallas Theater Center), Black Forest (Long Wharf) and more. TV/Film: “Law & Order”, “Cagney and Lacey”, “Another World”, Heaven’s Gate.
TRINEY SANDOVAL (Thomas Chapuys). Broadway: Frost/Nixon. New York: Elliot, a Soldier's Fugue; As You Like It; The Idiot. Regional: Baltimore Center Stage, Yale Rep, Oregon Shakes, The Alliance, Old Globe, Milwaukee Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, Alabama Shakes, Virginia Stage, San Jose Rep, among others. Over 35 productions of Shakespeare. TV: “The Sopranos,” “One Life to Live,” “All My Children,” recurring role on “Law & Order” and “Law & Order: SVU.”
EMILY DORSCH. Yale: Richard III, Three Sisters, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Venus, Balm in Gilead, Fill Our Mouths, The Lacy Project and more. Regional: Alls Well That Ends Well (Yale Rep), Self-Accusation & Baal (Yale Summer Cabaret), Wuthering Heights & The Human Comedy (Wayside, VA), Man of La Mancha (Show Palace, FL). MFA from Yale School of Drama.
ROBERT BOLT (Playwright). Robert Oxton Bolt was born in Sale in Manchester on 15 August 1924, the son of a shopkeeper. Early education at Manchester Grammar School was followed by a history degree at Manchester University. After serving in the Royal Air Force in World War II, Bolt qualified as a teacher and taught English in the prestigious private school Millfield between 1950 and 1958. It was here that, in his spare time, he wrote both radio and stage plays. Many of his radio plays received an airing and he also did some producing. In 1958, encouraged by the London success of his play The Flowering Cherry, he gave up teaching to concentrate full time on his writing. In 1960 he had two plays running in London, The Tiger and the Horse and A Man for All Seasons. The eponymous role of Sir Thomas More shot actor Paul Scofield to stardom, and A Man for All Seasons proved a huge hit both in London’s West End and on Broadway where in 1962 it was voted Best Foreign Play of the Year. This success attracted the attention of Hollywood, and producer Sam Spiegel approached Bolt to revise Michael Wilson’s script for Lawrence of Arabia. Directed by David Lean, it was Bolt’s first successful screenplay and he received an Academy Award nomination for it. Bolt won his first Oscar for his next collaboration with Lean, Doctor Zhivago in 1963. In 1966 his screen adaptation of A Man for All Seasons won him a second Oscar. Meanwhile, on stage, Bolt produced Gentle Jack in 1963 and a play for children, The Thwarting of Baron Bolligrew at Christmas 1965. In 1970 another historical play, charting the relationship between Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I, Vivat! Vivat! Regina! played to full houses at the Chichester Festival and later enjoyed a long run in the West End. When it was transferred to Broadway two years later was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play. Meanwhile, Bolt wrote the screenplay for two films starring his then wife, Sarah Miles; Ryan’s Daughter in 1970 and the historical costume drama Lady Caroline Lamb in 1972. Sarah was both his second and fourth (last) wife; the first married in 1967, but divorced in 1976, then after a third marriage ended in divorce in 1985, Sarah and Bolt remarried in 1988. In 1972, Bolt was appointed a CBE. In 1976, David Lean approached Bolt with an idea to rework the story of the infamous Bounty mutiny and, for two years, he worked on this epic project, creating two versions. Before he could complete the second, however, Bolt suffered a massive heart attack in April 1979, followed by a stroke. His one completed script was made into the film The Bounty five years later in 1981, directed by Roger Donaldson. His final film script, for The Mission, was produced in 1986. Robert Bolt died on 12 February 1995 at the age of seventy.
DOUG HUGHES (Director) recently directed Theresa Rebeck’s Mauritius for MTC. He also directed John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Doubt (2005 Tony, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics and Drama Desk Awards for Best Direction of a Play) and Shanley’s Defiance. Hughes is the Resident Director at Roundabout Theatre Company, where he has directed Howard Katz, A Touch of the Poet, A Naked Girl on the Appian Way, The Paris Letter and McReele. Other work in New York includes Inherit The Wind at the Lyceum Theatre (Drama Desk Nomination, Best Director; Tony Award Nomination, Best Revival), The House in Town at Lincoln Center, Frozen (Tony Award, Outer Critics Circle and Lortel nominations) and The Grey Zone (1996 Obie Award, Direction) at MCC; Engaged at TFANA; Flesh and Blood (Callaway Award, Best Direction) at NYTW; Othello at the Public and Lake Hollywood at Signature. In May 2005, Hughes received an Obie Award for Sustained Excellence.
Lead support provided by Roundabout’s Play Production Fund partners: Beth and Ravenel Curry, Steven and Liz Goldstone, The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, Mary and David Solomon..
Roundabout Theatre Company is one of the country’s leading not-for-profit theatres. The company contributes invaluably to New York's cultural life by staging the highest quality revivals of classic plays and musicals as well as new plays by established writers. Roundabout consistently partners great artists with great works to bring a fresh and exciting interpretation that makes each production relevant and important to today’s audiences.
Roundabout Theatre Company currently produces at three permanent homes each of which is designed specifically to enhance the needs of the Roundabout's mission. Off-Broadway, the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, which houses the Laura Pels Theatre and Black Box Theatre, with its simple sophisticated design is perfectly suited to showcasing new plays. The grandeur of its Broadway home on 42nd Street, American Airlines Theatre, sets the ideal stage for the classics. Roundabout's Studio 54 provides an exciting and intimate Broadway venue for its musical and special event productions. Together these three distinctive venues serve to enhance the work on each of its stages.
Roundabout productions are made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts; and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. American Express is the 2008-2009 season sponsor of the Roundabout Theatre Company. American Airlines is the official airline of Roundabout Theatre Company. The Westin New York is the official hotel of Roundabout Theatre Company.
Currently playing at Roundabout is Christopher Durang’s The Marriage of Bette and Boo, directed by Walter Bobbie. Roundabout’s sold out production of Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps is now playing at the Cort Theatre.
Roundabout Theatre Company’s upcoming 2008-2009 season will also include Rodgers & Hart’s Pal Joey, starring Stockard Channing, Christian Hoff & Martha Plimpton, directed by Joe Mantello; Bob Fosse’s Dancin’; David Rabe’s Streamers, directed by Scott Ellis, Lisa Loomer’s Distracted featuring Cynthia Nixon, directed by Mark Brokaw and Steven Levenson’s The Language of Trees, directed by Alex Timbers.
Roundabout Theatre Company’s critically acclaimed Broadway production of Reginald Rose’s Twelve Angry Men is currently booking the third year of its multi-award winning tour. Twelve Angry Men is directed by Tony-nominated director Scott Ellis (Curtains).
### THE NATIONAL TOUR OF
THE DONMAR WAREHOUSE PRODUCTION
FROST/NIXON
STARRING STACY KEACH
ANNOUNCES FULL CAST
The full cast for the tour of Frost/Nixon, the 2007 Tony Award® -nominated new play by Peter Morgan, the award-winning author of The Last King of Scotland and The Queen, has been announced.
Award-winning stage and screen actor Stacy Keach takes on the role of President Richard Nixon joined by Alan Cox as David Frost.
Appearing alongside Keach and Cox are Meghan Andrews as Evonne Goolagong, Bob Ari as Bob Zelnick, Antony Hagopian as John Birt, Roxanna Hope as Caroline Cushing, Ted Koch as Jack Brennan, Stephen Rowe as Swifty Lazar, Brian Sgambati as Jim Reston and Noel Velez as Manobo Sanchez. Rounding out the ensemble are David Sitler, Peter Hilton and Tamara Lovatt-Smith.
Michael Grandage, who directed the original London and Broadway productions, directs the tour with associate director Seth Sklar-Heyn.
The Frost/Nixon tour officially opens in Des Moines, IA at the Des Moines Civic Center (September 30-October 5, 2008). The show then travels to Appleton, WI (October 7-12, 2008), Columbus, OH (October 14-19, 2008), Houston, TX (October 21-November 2, 2008), East Lansing, MI (November 4-9, 2008), Washington DC (November 11-30, 2008), Pittsburgh, PA (December 2-7, 2008), Wilmington, DE (December 9-14, 2008), Minneapolis, MN (January 6-11, 2009), Cleveland, OH (January 13-25, 2009), Boston, MA (January 27-February 8, 2009), Charlotte, NC (February 10-15, 2009), Tampa, FL (February 17-22, 2009), Cincinnati, OH (February 24-March 8, 2009), Los Angeles, CA (March 10-29, 2009), Tempe, AZ (March 31-April 5, 2009), San Antonio, TX (April 7-12, 2009), Sacramento, CA (April 14-26, 2009) and Dallas, TX (April 28-May 3, 2009).
How was it that a famous British talk-show host with a playboy reputation was the one to elicit the apology the world was waiting to hear from former U.S. president Richard Nixon? This fast-paced new play shows the determination, conviction and lengths that these two men, and their closest confidantes, went to as they took the stage in one of the most hard-fought political interviews in history.
Frost/Nixon debuted in a sold-out run at London’s Donmar Warehouse before transferring to the West End, winning a 2007 Evening Standard Award. The show opened on Broadway in April 2007, and played a limited five-month engagement where it garnered Tony nominations for Best Play and Best Direction.
Critics in London and New York raved about the production. “A victory! Frost/Nixon is a nail-biting thriller with the zing of a comedy,” The New York Times enthused. The New York Post exclaimed that it’s “A prize fight you watch with the kind of fascinated delight rare in the theater.” And The Philadelphia Inquirer said “Morgan’s arresting play captures the moment, the era – and the audience. By aiming its stage lights on the two men, Frost/Nixon illuminates history. In the process, we are brighter.”
Frost/Nixon is Peter Morgan’s first stage play and was developed with Matthew Byam Shaw. He received the Best Screenplay Award at the 2006 Venice Film Festival for The Queen starring Helen Mirren and Michael Sheen. The Queen also earned Morgan Golden Globe, New York Film Critics, Los Angeles Film Critics and British Independent Film Awards and an Oscar nomination for his screenplay. His other film work includes The Last King of Scotland, which earned Morgan a British Independent Film Award nomination. Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence, and The Other Boleyn Girl with Scarlett Johansson. His film Longford is currently in rotation on HBO.
Designs for Frost/Nixon are by Christopher Oram, with lighting by Neil Austin, and the music and sound score by Adam Cork. Video design is by Jon Driscoll.
The Donmar Warehouse is one of London’s leading producing theaters, a subsidized (not-for-profit) theater located in the West End. Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage and previously Sam Mendes, the theater has garnered critical acclaim at home and abroad. The theater produces at least 6 productions a year and a touring program. Donmar generated productions have received 29 Olivier Awards, 17 Critics’ Circle Awards, 13 Evening Standard Awards, and 12 Tony Awards from 8 Broadway productions.
Donmar generated work in New York includes Cabaret on Broadway, directed by Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall (1998); Electra starring Zoë Wanamaker at the McCarter Theater and later on Broadway (1998; Tony Award nomination: Best Play); The Blue Room with Nicole Kidman and Iain Glen (1998); the multi award-winning The Real Thing (Tony Award Best Play Revival) directed by David Leveaux in 2000; True West directed by Matthew Warchus; The Public Theater and Donmar collaboration of Take Me Out (winner of the Tony Award for Best New Play) (2002/2003); Twelfth Night/Uncle Vanya at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (2003); and Nine (2003).
Frost/Nixon is produced by Arielle Tepper Madover, Independent Presenters Network (IPN), Broadway Across America, Fox Theatricals, Mary Lu Roffe and The Donmar Warehouse.
Biographies
MICHAEL GRANDAGE (Director) is artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse, London. His work there has won every major UK Theatre award and includes: The Chalk Garden, Othello, John Gabriel Borkman, Don Juan in Soho, Frost/Nixon (also West End), The Cut (also UK tour), The Wild Duck (Critics Circle Award, Best Director), Grand Hotel (Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production and Evening Standard Award for Best Director), Pirandello’s Henry IV (also UK tour), After Miss Julie, Caligula (Olivier Award, Best Director), The Vortex, Privates on Parade, Merrily We Roll Along (Olivier Award for Best Musical and Critics’ Circle Award for Best Director), Passion Play (Critics’ Circle and Evening Standard Awards), Good. In the West End: Guys and Dolls (Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production), Evita (Adelphi).
As Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres between 1999 and 2005 his work included: Don Carlos (also West End; Evening Standard, TMA and German British Forum Awards for Best Director), Suddenly Last Summer (also West End), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest (also the Old Vic), Richard III, Don Juan, Edward II, The Country Wife, As You Like It (also Lyric Hammersmith; Critics Circle and Evening Standard Awards for Best Director, South Bank Show Award for Theatre), Twelfth Night, What the Butler Saw.
He has been given Honorary Doctorates by Sheffield Hallam University and Sheffield University where he was also a visiting professor. He has also been awarded an Honorary Fellowship by The Central School of Speech and Drama and the 2006 Award for Excellence in International Theatre by the International Theatre Institute.
SETH SKLAR-HEYN (Associate Director) served as Assistant Director to Michael Grandage for the Donmar’s Broadway run of Frost/Nixon. He also assisted directors Trevor Nunn and Jack O’Brien on the Broadway productions of Rock’n’Roll and The Coast of Utopia, respectively. Additional Broadway credits: Legally Blonde, The History Boys, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Good Vibrations, A Christmas Carol, Taboo, Cabaret, The Producers, Thou Shalt Not, The Phantom of the Opera and Seussical. National Tour: The Phantom of the Opera, The Producers, and Parade. Graduate of Vassar College.
PETER MORGAN (Playwright). Frost/Nixon is Peter Morgan’s first stage play and was developed with producer Matthew Byam Shaw for The Donmar Warehouse. His film credits include screenplays for The Queen starring Helen Mirren and Michael Sheen (Academy Award nomination; Golden Globe Winner;); The Last King of Scotland starring Forest Whitaker (BAFTA Award Winner) and the upcoming screen adaptation of Frost/Nixon directed by Ron Howard, starring Frank Langella and Michael Sheen. His TV credits include HBO’s multi Golden-Globe winning “Longford,” “The Deal” (BAFTA Award for Best Single Drama), and “Henry VIII” (International Emmy for Best Drama, 2004).
STACY KEACH (Richard Nixon). John Huston once said of Stacy Keach that “Stacy is not a star. He is a constellation. The audience will come to see whatever character he portrays.” Keach, who has excelled in many of the classic and contemporary stage’s greatest roles, has been called one of America’s pre-eminent interpreters of Shakespeare. Mr. Keach began his professional career with the New York Shakespeare Festival in 1964. He received the first of his three Obie Awards for his work in the off-Broadway political satire, MacBird. Broadway credits include Indians (Tony Award nomination); Deathtrap; the Pulitzer Prize-winning Kentucky Cycle (Helen Hayes award for Best Actor) and Solitary Confinement. One of the most versatile stars of film, television and stage, Keach next appears in Oliver Stone’s cinematic portrait of George W. Bush, W. He has appeared in numerous films, including: The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter, The New Centurions, Doc, Fat City, The Longriders, Up in Smoke, Nice Dreams, The Ninth Configuration, Escape from L.A., Honeydripper and American History X. He is celebrated worldwide for his hit series as hard-boiled detective, Mike Hammer, as the irascible, hilarious Dad on Fox’s comic sitcom, Titus and as the warden on Prison Break. He won a Golden Globe award and an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Ernest Hemingway. Following his triumphant recent title role performance in King Lear for the prestigious Goodman Theatre in Chicago, directed by Robert Falls (which he will reprise in June 2009 at Washington D.C.’s new Shakespeare Harmon Center), Keach has recently starred in such films as Rob Nilsson’s Imbued (for which he also composed the music) Ring of Death, The Boxer, The Assistant and Meteor.
ALAN COX (David Frost). Graduated from The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 1991. Directing credits: Flanders Mare (Sound Theatre), Dirty Fan Male (Edinburgh festival), The Riot Act (The Gate), A&R (Theatre 503) and Desire Caught By The Tale (Landor Theatre). Acting Credits: Seasons at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Chichester Festival Theatre, The Seagull, Absolute Hell, Wild Oats, An Enemy of the People (National Theatre). West End: The Creeper (Playhouse), The Importance of Being Earnest (Theatre Royal Haymarket) and Strange Interlude (Duke of York’s). U.S: Translations (MTC on Broadway), Passion Play (Goodman Theatre, Chicago). He also worked at the Lyric Theatre Belfast in John Bull’s Other Island by George Bernard Shaw and toured with Howard Barker’s Wrestling School in The Fence in its Thousandth Year. He appeared in the London Premieres of The Earthly Paradise by Peter Whelan (The Almeida), The Flu Season by Will Eno (The Gate) and The Rubenstein Kiss by James Philips (Hampstead). Film and TV: August, The Speed of Thought, Ladies in Lavender, Justice, The Auteur Theory, Mrs. Dalloway, An Awfully Big Adventure, Young Sherlock Holmes, and John Adams, Housewife 49, Custer’s Last Battle, Not Only But Always.
MEGHAN ANDREWS (Evonne Goolagong, u/s Caroline). Broadway: Frost/Nixon and The Grapes of Wrath (Steppenwolf). The Trip to Bountiful (Signature, 2006 Lucille Lortel Nomination) (Goodman), Clocks and Whistles, Doubt (GeorgeStreet), Film: Sweet Flame, The Interloper, Cost of Living. TV: “Law & Order: C.I.” and “Flesh ‘n Blood” (with Director Jim Burrows). Meghan is a lifetime member of the Actors’ Studio.
BOB ARI (Bob Zelnick, u/s Nixon). Broadway: The Constant Wife, Bells Are Ringing, Laughter on the 23rd Floor. Off-Broadway: Die Mommie Die!, Jolson & Company, Picasso At The Lapin Agile. Regional Theatres: American Conservatory Theatre, Colony Theatre, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Delaware Theatre Co., Long Wharf, Walnut St. Theatre and many others. Film: Two Lovers, Kissing Jessica Stein, Music Of The Heart, Cradle Will Rock. Television: “Ed”, “Law & Order”, “Cheers”, “Cagney and Lacey”, “Soap”, “L.A. Law”, “All My Children”.
ANTONY HAGOPIAN (John Birt). Broadway: Frost/Nixon. Off-Broadway: Walking Down Broadway (Mint Theater). Regional: Cincinnati Playhouse; Pittsburgh Public Theater; Shakespeare Theatre (D.C.); Pioneer Theatre Company; Missouri Repertory; Repertory Theatre of St. Louis; Alabama Shakespeare Festival; Virginia Stage; Indiana Repertory; NJ Shakespeare Festival; PlayMakers Repertory. TV: “Law & Order”, “Sopranos”.
PETER HILTON (Ensemble) is an actor, director and award-winning playwright. He holds a degree in Classics from UCL and has lectured at the British Museum on ancient Greek drama. He is a member of AEA, British Equity, The Dramatists Guild of America and a drama consultant for experiential drama-based training in issues of diversity and cultural awareness www.dramaconsultant.com
ROXANNA HOPE (Caroline Cushing). Broadway: Frost/Nixon, After the Fall, The Women. Off Broadway: 1001, Arabian Night, Princess Turandot, Little Willy. Regional: Williamstown Theater Festival, American Conservatory Theater, Shakespeare Theatre/NJ, Huntington Theater, Westport Country Playhouse, Colorado Shakespeare Festival and others. Film\TV: No Reservations, “Law & Order”, “Law & Order: CI”, “Law & Order: SVU”, “All My Children”.
TED KOCH (Jack Brennan). Broadway: The Pillowman, Death of a Salesman, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Off-Broadway: Meshugah, Chaos Theories. Regional: True West Arena Stage, Front Page, Sweet Bird of Youth (Williamstown Theater), Pig Farm, Sea of Tranquility Old Globe, A Streetcar Named Desire (Buffalo Studio), As You Like It (Goodman). Television: “Cashmere Mafia”, “Sopranos”, “Law & Order”, “Ed”, “Third Watch”, “West Wing”, “Hack”, “Chicago Hope”. Film: Hannibal, Cold Souls, Griffin and Phoenix, Dinner Rush.
TAMARA LOVATT-SMITH (Ensemble). A native Australian, Tamara works as a theater/film/voice over artist in New York. Recent credits: Freak Winds, Illumination and The Stepford Wives. She teaches at NY’s Atlantic Theater co. Acting School and is a producing associate on the new musical ANGELS. Thanks and love to parents, ANGELS team, and Joshua.
STEPHEN ROWE (Swifty Lazar/Mike Wallace). Broadway: Frost/Nixon, The Goat, The Nerd. Off-Broadway: Big Bill, A Picasso, Tiny Alice, The Normal Heart. Regional: Founding Member, ART (ALBEE'S MEN, acclaimed solo show), ALBEE DIRECTS ALBEE, International Tour, South Coast Rep (DramaLogue Award), Berkeley Rep (Bay Area Critics Award) & others. TV: “Law & Order”, “ER”, “Beverly Hills: 90210” & others. Film: The Pink Panther, Basic Instinct.
BRIAN SGAMBATI (Jim Reston). Broadway: The Coast Of Utopia, King Lear, Lincoln Center. Off-Broadway includes: Landscape Of The Body (Signature), The World Over (Playwright's Horizons), Paris Commune (Public). Regional includes: Passion Play (Goodman), Two Noble Kinsmen (Old Globe), The Blue Demon (Huntington), Sweet Bird Of Youth (La Jolla Playhouse). MFA: UC San Diego.
DAVID SITLER (Ensemble, u/s Camera Op, u/s Brennan, u/s Zelnick, u/s Swifty). Broadway: An Inspector Calls. Regional: Ford's, Virginia Stage Company, Florida Studio, Swine Palace, NJ Rep., Luna Stage, Carousel Dinner Theatre, Mill Mountain, Surflight, Hippodrome, Cumberland County. Film: Ghetto Dawg, Synapse, Twelve. TV: “Law & Order: SVU”, “As the World Turns”. Thanks to a great company and especially wife/actor Carolyn Popp.
NOEL VELEZ (Manolo Sanchez, u/s Reston). Arms and the Man, School for Wives, Measure for Measure, Mary Stuart, Richard III, As You Like It, The Rivals, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cymbeline, Taming of the Shrew, Cyrano, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, All's Well that Ends Well. “One Life to Live”, “Guiding Light”.
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