Angela Lansbury to Make Bway Return in McNally's Deuce

The New York Post's Michael Riedel reports that four-time Tony Award-winner Angela Lansbury will soon be making a highly anticipated return to Broadway.

She will star with Marian Seldes--a fellow member of theatre royalty--in Deuce, a new play by Terrence McNally (Master Class, Ragtime, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune).  Deuce concerns "two retired women tennis players who once made up a championship doubles team."  The play will open on May 6th, 2007 at the Music Box Theatre after beginning previews in April. The show, which was to be produced Off-Broadway at Primary Stages, will now be produced by Scott Rudin, Stuart Thompson and Maberry Theatricals in association with Primary Stages.

"We all are floating around in the ether.  It's a wonderful gig we're embarking on here," Lansbury stated to the Post yesterday.  Directed by Tony Award-winner Michael Blakemore (Copenhagen, Kiss Me, Kate), the play will mark Lansbury's first Broadway appearance in 23 years.

Lansbury garnered Tony Awards for her performances in Sweeney Todd, Mame, Dear World and Gypsy. She has also been seen on Broadway in Sondheim's Anyone Can Whistle, Hotel Paradiso, A Taste of Honey, The King and I, a 1983 revival of Mame, and A Little Family Business. A long-time film star, her screen credits include National Velvet, The Harvey Girls, The Court Jester, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, The World of Henry Orient, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and The Pirates of Penzance; she received Oscar nods for her performances in Gaslight, The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Manchurian Candidate. Lansbury starred in the title role of Jerry Herman's telemusical "Mrs. Santa Claus," but is best known to TV audiences for her role as detective Jessica Fletcher on "Murder, She Wrote." This November, she will headline the Acting Company benefit reading "This is On Me, an Evening of Dorothy Parker."