Two-time Emmy Award winner and Golden Globe Award winner Bruce Willis will makes his Broadway debut opposite three-time Emmy Award winner and two-time Tony Award nominee Laurie Metcalf in MISERY.
MISERY, written by two-time Academy Award-winner William Goldman (The Princess Bride, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) who wrote the screenplay for the Academy Award-winning film and based on the acclaimed novel by Stephen King, is directed by Will Frears (Omnium Gatherum).
Successful romance novelist Paul Sheldon (Bruce Willis) is rescued from a car crash by his "Number One Fan," Annie Wilkes (Laurie Metcalf), and wakes up captive in her secluded home. While Paul is convalescing, Annie reads the manuscript to his newest novel and becomes enraged when she discovers the author has killed off her favorite character, Misery Chastain. Annie forces Paul to write a new "Misery" novel, and he quickly realizes Annie has no intention of letting him go anywhere. The irate Annie has Paul writing as if his life depends on it, and if he does not make her deadline, it will.
When Misery cooks, it is in the Grand Guignol moments, particularly the scene of hobbling, so why not go ahead and make that Guignol so much grander, sillier, more deliciously absurd? Had the violence been increased, as well as the comedy and the sense of sexual sublimation, Misery might have been a real scream.
Watching Bruce Willis move around in his wheelchair in 'Misery,' which opened Sunday at the Broadhurst Theatre, is like watching 'Rope,' a film made in very long takes with next to no editing... Shouldn't there be cuts to Metcalf in a car as she races home to inflict further pain on her idol, a best-selling novelist? Of course, there are no cuts. It's a play! And that's just one of the major problems with William Goldman's stage adaptation of Stephen King's 1987 best-seller, which became a successful 1990 movie scripted by Goldman. Korins's turntable set keeps spinning around and around as Willis and Metcalf play crazy cat and injured mouse, but there's no suspense.
2015 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Scenic Design (Play or Musical) | David Korins |
2016 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play | Laurie Metcalf |
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