Brown and Benanti to lead CUCKOO’S NEST reading
Brown and Benanti to lead CUCKOO’S NEST reading
jacobsnchz14
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/13/06
#1Brown and Benanti to lead CUCKOO’S NEST reading
Posted: 5/17/23 at 8:33pm
https://variety.com/2023/legit/columns/sterling-k-brown-laura-benanti-one-flew-over-the-cuckoos-nest-1235616921/
According to Variety, three-time Emmy winner Sterling K. Brown and Tony Award-winner Laura Benanti will star in a reading of a new Broadway-aimed stage production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on May 18 in New York City.
Sources tell Variety that Brown will portray psych ward rabblerouser Randle P. McMurphy with Benanti as his steely foil Nurse Ratched.
The reading will be directed by Young Vicartistic director Kwame Kwei-Armah, best known to New York audiences for his productions of Twelfth Night, A Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing for The Public Theater.
ErmengardeStopSniveling
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/18
#2Brown and Benanti to lead CUCKOO’S NEST reading
Posted: 5/17/23 at 11:26pm
Interesting. There are probably 20 other women I'd put ahead of Benanti on a casting list for this part, but she could be good and would certainly be a departure from her past stage work -- as long as she doesn't lean into camp.
Ke3
Broadway Star Joined: 6/25/20
#3Brown and Benanti to lead CUCKOO’S NEST reading
Posted: 5/18/23 at 1:12am
I actually think Benanti would be great in this. We all know she can do comedy but I've always sensed something Betty Buckley-ish waiting to come out.
(Not a knock to Betty who would've been great in this part and by all accounts is an incredibly warm person in day to day life. I'm merely speaking on stage presence)
#4Brown and Benanti to lead CUCKOO’S NEST reading
Posted: 5/18/23 at 4:35am
I agree, I haven't really thought about it before but I do think Benanti could have that perfect kind of 'beautiful woman with a weird crooked smile and something weird going under the surface' kind of vibes. She seems like a pretty great actress.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
ErmengardeStopSniveling
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/18
#5Brown and Benanti to lead CUCKOO’S NEST reading
Posted: 5/18/23 at 9:46am
The most serious screen role I've seen her in was the Netflix film WORTH (Michael Keaton/Stanley Tucci movie about the 9/11 Victim Commission Fund). Different vibe than this - an un-showy grieving woman - but she naturally holds her own.
Updated On: 5/18/23 at 09:46 AM
#6Brown and Benanti to lead CUCKOO’S NEST reading
Posted: 5/18/23 at 1:42pm
Benanti is miscast in this role but it's hard to forget Louise Fletcher in the role. I'm open to being proven wrong.
JSquared2
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/23/17
#7Brown and Benanti to lead CUCKOO’S NEST reading
Posted: 5/18/23 at 2:02pm
Soaring29 said: "Benanti is miscast in this role but it's hard to forget Louise Fletcher in the role. I'm open to being proven wrong."
Kind of a stupid statement to make -- given a) she isn't even confirmed; b) it's only a reading; and c) no one has witnessed her say a line of dialogue.
