Jessica Lange to Star in West End 'Glass Menagerie'

Oscar-winner Jessica Lange will return to the role of Amanda Wingfield in an upcoming West End revival of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, according to Whatsonstage.com.

Lange previously played the faded southern belle in last year's Broadway revival, which was directed by David Leveaux.  The West End staging will be directed by Rupert Goold.  It will play a limited run from February 13th through May 19th at the Apollo Theatre, where the play will begin previews on January 31st.

The first West End production of the musical Over Here!, starring Donna McKechnie, Frances Ruffelle and Diane Langton, had previously been slated for a run at the Apollo from January 8th through February 16th.  Another theatre has yet to be announced for the production.

"Considered along with A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as one of Tennessee Williams' masterpieces, The Glass Menagerie premiered on Broadway in 1945 and was the playwright's first great success. Set in St. Louis in the 1930's, the memory play tells the story of the Wingfield family - Tom, who is torn between his obligation to his family and his desire to break away, his overbearing mother Amanda, and his frail sister Laura, whose memory he cannot escape," stated press notes on the Broadway revival.

Lange last starred on Broadway in A Streetcar Named Desire as another great Williams' heroine, Blanche DuBois. She starred in two Bill Kenwright productions in the West End – again as Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Peter Hall, and as Mary Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night, directed by Robin Phillips. Lange is a six time Academy Award-nominated actress, winning twice for her performances in the films, Tootsie and Blue Sky. Her other Oscar-nominated film performances include Frances, Country, Sweet Dreams and Music Box. Her other notable film performances include starring roles in The Postman Always Rings Twice, Crimes of the Heart, Everybody's All-American, Cape Fear, Night and the City, Rob Roy and Big Fish.  She will play "Big" Edith Bouvier Beale in the upcoming film Grey Gardens, based on the documentary.