STAGE TUBE: On This Day, March 8- Helen MIrren Receives a Royal Opening for THE AUDIENCE on Broadway

By: Mar. 08, 2017
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On this day in 2015, Academy Award winner Helen Mirren returned to Broadway with a stunning portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in Peter Morgan's The Audience, directed by two-time Tony Award winner Stephen Daldry.

In addition to Helen Mirren (Queen Elizabeth II), the opening night cast for The Audience included Dylan Baker (John Major), Geoffrey Beevers (The Queen's Equerry), Michael Elwyn (Sir Anthony Eden), Judith Ivey(Margaret Thatcher), Dakin Matthews (Winston Churchill), Rod McLachlan (Gordon Brown), Rufus Wright (David Cameron), Anthony Cochrane (Cecil Beaton / Detective / Bishop), Graydon Long (Footman / Beefeater), Jason Loughlin (Footman / Beefeater),Michael Rudko (Ensemble), Henny Russell (Queen's Secretary), Tracy Sallows (Bobo McDonald),Sadie Sink (Young Elizabeth), Elizabeth Teeter (Young Elizabeth), and Tony Ward (Ensemble).

The production boasted scenic design by six-time Tony Award winner Bob Crowley with lighting by two-time Tony Award winner Rick Fisher, sound by Tony Award winner Paul Arditti, and music by Paul Englishby.

The production nabbed two Tony Awards, one for Mirren in the Leading Actress in a Play category and the other for Featured Actor in a Play, taken home by Richard McCabe for his portrayal of Harold Wilson.

The Audience is a play that imagines a series of pivotal meetings between the Downing Street incumbents and their Queen. From Churchill to Cameron, each Prime Minister uses these private conversations as a sounding board and a confessional - sometimes intimate, sometimes explosive. In turn, the Queen can't help but reveal her own self as she advises, consoles and, on occasion, teases. These private audiences chart the arc of the second Elizabethan Age, from the beginning of Elizabeth II's reign to today. Politicians come and go through the revolving door of electoral politics, while she remains constant, waiting to welcome her next Prime Minister.

Re-live all the opening night action in the video!


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