The Glass Menagerie with Jessica Lange Begins February 24
By: BWW News Desk Jan. 05, 2005
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.
THE GLASS MENAGERIE will have sets and costumes by Tom Pye and lighting by Natasha Katz.
Jessica Lange - by J. Vespa.JPG" /> Jessica Lange (Amanda Wingfield) last starred on Broadway in A Streetcar Named Desire as another great Williams' heroine, Blanche DuBois. She returns to the New York stage in The Glass Menagerie after receiving critical acclaim in London in two Bill Kenwright productions in the West End – once again as Blanche Dubois 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. Miss 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, as film actress Frances Farmer, Country, which she also produced, Sweet Dreams as country western legend Patsy Cline and Costa-Gavras' Music Box. Her other notable film performances include starring roles in The Postman Always Rings Twice opposite Jack Nicholson, Crimes of the Heart opposite Sissy Spacek and Diane Keaton, Everybody's All-American opposite Dennis Quaid, Cape Fear and Night and the City, both opposite Robert DeNiro, Rob Roy opposite Liam Neeson and last year's Big Fish opposite Albert Finney and Billy Crudup.
Dallas Roberts (Tom Wingfield), currently starring in Caryl Churchill's A Number at the New York Theatre Workshop, recently received critical acclaim for his performance opposite Colin Farrell in the film, A Home At The End of the World. His off-Broadway credits include a Drama Desk-nominated performance in the NYTW production of Nocturne and the Signature Theatre's productions of Lanford Wilson's Burn This and Enter The Night. He has been seen on television on Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU and New York Undercover.
Sarah Paulson (Laura Wingfield) made her Broadway debut in Wendy Wasserstein's The Sisters Rosensweig and appeared off-Broadway in Talking Pictures. Her recent film credits include a co-starring role opposite Renee Zellweger, Ewan MacGregor and David Hyde Pierce in Down With Love, What Women Want with Mel Gibson, and as Diane Keaton's daughter in The Other Sister. TV roles include CBS' American Gothic, and regular roles on the series Jack & Jill, Leap of Faith and Metropolis.
Josh Lucas (The Gentleman Caller) was last seen on the New York stage in Terrence McNally's Corpus Christi at the Manhattan Theatre Club. His other theatre credits include roles in Christopher Shinn's What Didn't Happen at the Mark Taper Forum and The Picture of Dorian Gray at the Los Angeles Theatre Center. His recent screen film credits include featured roles in the films, An Unfinished Life, Secondhand Lions, Wonderland, The Hulk, Sweet Home Alabama, A Beautiful Mind, The Weight of Water, The Dancer, American Psycho and You Can Count on Me. Later this year he will star opposite Jamie Foxx in Stealth, in the Jerry Bruckheimer film Glory Road, and will be featured in An Unfinished Life starring Robert Redford and Jennifer Lopez.
David Leveaux directed the current Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof and last season's Tony-nominated revival of Tom Stoppard's Jumpers, which originated at London's National Theatre. Mr. Leveaux's Broadway credits include the Tony Award-winning revival of Nine, Harold Pinter's Betrayal starring Juliette Binoche and the Tony Award-winning revival of O'Neill's Anna Christie, all for the Roundabout Theatre Company, as well as the Tony Award-inning revival of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, Electra with Zoe Wanamaker and A Moon For the Misbegotten starring Kate Nelligan. In London Mr. Leveaux has directed at the Donmar Warehouse (where he was Associate Director), The Almeida Theatre, The National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has directed opera for the Scottish Opera and the English National Opera.
Bill Kenwright, considered London's most prolific producer, won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play for his production of Janet McTeer in A Doll's House, directed by Anthony Page. His other Broadway productions include last season's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof starring Ashley Judd, Jason Patric and Ned Beatty, directed by Mr. Page; Ionesco's The Chairs, directed by Simon McBurney; Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband, directed by Peter Hall; the Tony Award winning production of Diana Rigg as Medea, directed by Jonathan Kent; Stepping Out; Brian Friel's Dancing at Lughnasa; and the long running production of Willy Russell's musical Blood Brothers, which he co-directed. Mr. Kenwright also produced the National Tour of Blood Brothers. Off-Broadway, he produced the critically acclaimed adaptation of Graham Greene's Travels With My Aunt.
THE GLASS MENAGERIE will be performed Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8pm, with matinees on Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm and Sunday at 3pm. Beginning, Tuesday, March 22 all Tuesday evening performances will begin at 7pm. Please note that there will be an added performance on Monday, March 14 at 8pm in place of the Thursday, March 17 performance.
Tickets to THE GLASS MENAGERIE, priced from $91.25 to $71.25, will be available beginning Sunday, January 23 at telecharge.com (212-239-6200) and at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre box office beginning Monday, February 7.
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