Two-time Emmy Award winner and Golden Globe Award winner Bruce Willis will makes his Broadway debut opposite three-time Emmy Award winner and two-time Tony Award nominee Laurie Metcalf in MISERY.
MISERY, written by two-time Academy Award-winner William Goldman (The Princess Bride, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) who wrote the screenplay for the Academy Award-winning film and based on the acclaimed novel by Stephen King, is directed by Will Frears (Omnium Gatherum).
Successful romance novelist Paul Sheldon (Bruce Willis) is rescued from a car crash by his "Number One Fan," Annie Wilkes (Laurie Metcalf), and wakes up captive in her secluded home. While Paul is convalescing, Annie reads the manuscript to his newest novel and becomes enraged when she discovers the author has killed off her favorite character, Misery Chastain. Annie forces Paul to write a new "Misery" novel, and he quickly realizes Annie has no intention of letting him go anywhere. The irate Annie has Paul writing as if his life depends on it, and if he does not make her deadline, it will.
In the New Jersey-reared actor's Broadway debut in 'Misery,' Willis delivers an underpowered, half-interested performance - all the more puzzling considering that he's playing a character being tormented by a psychopath. That 'Misery' succeeds is a testament to the ingenuity of King's original material, the deftness of director Will Frears' staging, and especially the roller-coaster force of Willis' co-star Laurie Metcalf (from TV's 'Roseanne'), who (almost) makes you forget the iconic stamp Kathy Bates put on the same part in the film version. Despite Willis' flat performance, 'Misery' turns out to be something Broadway hasn't seen in years: an old-fashioned chiller from the Ira Levin/'Deathtrap' school, where the gasps and the giggles are deliciously jumbled together.
As lovable as wise-cracking Bruce Willis was in 'Moonlighting' and the 'Die Hard' films, he is deadly dull in the stage version of Stephen King's novel. This big Hollywood star musters just enough emotion to stretch from A to B in his Broadway debut... 'Misery' reminds how hard it is to make a thriller click on stage, whether Annie is terrorizing Paul or contending with a nosey cop (Leon Addison Brown). When Annie gets her gun, it's a riot. Anyone who's seen the movie knows what's coming, but Metcalf largely hits her mark with her sledgehammer and her block of wood.
2015 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Scenic Design (Play or Musical) | David Korins |
2016 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play | Laurie Metcalf |
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