Primo Starring Antony Sher Opens July 11 at Music Box

Bill Kenwright and Thelma Holt will bring the acclaimed National Theatre of Great Britain production of PRIMO, starring Antony Sher as Italian chemist and Holocaust survivor Primo Levi, to Broadway this summer for 32 performances only beginning Friday, July 8 through Sunday, August 7. Opening night for PRIMO, which is based on Levi's memoir Survival in Auschwitz, as adapted for the stage by Antony Sher, and directed by Richard Wilson, is Monday, July 11 at the Music Box Theatre (239 West 45 Street).

Writer and chemist Primo Levi was an Italian Jew, internationally famous for his many writings, the first being his 1947 memoir, Survival in Auschwitz (originally published in English under the title of If This Is a Man), his account of the time he spent in the Auschwitz concentration camp during the final year of World War II.

PRIMO, actor and author Antony Sher's adaptation of Levi's memoir, premiered last fall at London's National Theatre to critical acclaim and capacity audiences. Time Out/London described it as "a passionate performance that will cling in the memory, never entirely to be shaken away." The Express exclaimed, "Primo is sheer brilliance: as actor and adapter this is an award winning evening for Antony Sher." The Independent on Sunday raved as well, describing the evening as "a superb, subtle, restrained performance shot through with wisdom, barbed irony and amazingly resilient humanity."

Following its London premiere, South African native Sir Antony traveled to his native Cape Town where he performed PRIMO at the Baxter Theatre again to capacity audiences before returning to England this winter to recreate his performance for another sold out engagement in London's West End.

PRIMO is designed by Hildegard Bechtler with lighting by Paul Pyant, sound by Rich Walsh and music by Jonathan Goldstein.

Award-winning actor, writer and artist Antony Sher, one of England's most acclaimed actors, is well-known from his many performances on the London stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre and in the West End. He made his Broadway debut, and garnered a Tony nomination for Best Actor in a Play, for his performance in Pam Gems' Stanley. His film credits include roles in Yanks, Superman II, Mrs. Brown, Shakespeare in Love and Churchill: The Hollywood Years. As an artist, his drawings and paintings have been exhibited at Stratford, the Barbican Centre and The National Theatre. He is the author of the play I.D. and works of fiction and non-fiction. His most recent book is Primo Time, an account of his bringing PRIMO to the stage. In 2000, he became Sir Antony Sher, KBE, after receiving a knighthood for his services to the arts as both an actor and writer.

Director Richard Wilson is an Associate Director of London's Royal Court Theatre. In addition to the Royal Court, he has directed many productions in London at the Bush, Lyric Hammersmith, Hampstead Theatre, as well as the West End production of Stephen Churchett's Tom and Clem starring Michael Gambon and Alec McCowen. He has directed as well at the Oxford Playhouse, where he was Associate Director, and at the Chichester Festival. As an actor, he is well known to English TV audiences for his many award winning roles in television series and specials, and has been seen in the films A Passage to India, Gulliver's Travels, Prick Up Your Ears and The Man Who Knew Too Little with Bill Murray.

Two of London's most prolific producers, Bill Kenwright and Thelma Holt reunite on Broadway for this production having also co-produced the multi-Tony Award winning Best Revival A Doll's House, starring Janet McTeer. Mr. Kenwright is the producer of the current Broadway production of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie starring Jessica Lange, Christian Slater, Josh Lucas and Sarah Paulson, directed by David Leveaux, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. In addition to A Doll's House, his other Broadway productions include last season's Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, and Complicite's production of The Chairs, Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband, the stage adaptation of Graham Greene's Travels With My Aunt, the Tony Award winning Medea starring Diana Rigg, the long running musical Blood Brothers, which he also directed, and Brian Friel's Dancing At Lughnasa.

PRIMO will be performed Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8pm, with matinees Saturday at 2pm and Sundays at 3pm. Please note that the Sunday, July 10 performance will begin at 5pm and that there is no performance on Tuesday, July 12. Tickets, priced at $86.25 and $76.25, will be available beginning Monday, May 9, at TELE-CHARGE (212) 239-6200 or at the box office.