Inspired by a true story, the play follows the trail of a young black con man, Paul, who insinuates himself into the lives of a wealthy New York couple, Ouisa and Flan Kittredge, saying he knows their son at college.
Producer Stuart Thompson announced that John Guare's critically acclaimed play Six Degrees of Separation will return to Broadway in a revival starring seven-time Emmy Award winner Allison Janney ("Mom," The Girl on the Train) as Ouisa and Tony Award winner John Benjamin Hickey (The Normal Heart, "Manhattan") as Flan.
Trip Cullman (Significant Other, Punk Rock) will direct the production, which is set to open at the Barrymore Theatre in April 2017 and will run for 15 weeks only.
Of the large cast, a handful of supporting players -- Cody Costro, as a spoiled Dartmouth kid; Chris Perfetti, as the swindler's Henry Higgins-like instructor in upper class behavior -- make a strong impression. The lead actors, though, all seem off, lacking in substance (Hickey), or mystery (Hawkins), or -- in Janney's case -- unwilling to plumb the depths of anguish that lurk beneath this play's urbane, arch veneer. Save yourself the trouble and rewatch the imperfect but often thrilling 1993 film version instead.
Yes, John Guare's 1990 hit feels dated. Two Upper East Side culture vultures are swindled by an African-American youth pretending to be Sidney Poitier's son and their child's Harvard classmate: In 2017, such a plot would quickly unravel with a few Google clicks and a text to the kids. And yet, while technology nails this period as pre-World Wide Web, it swings both ways. Guare's elegant and elegiac social dramedy actually seems startlingly prophetic in the age of data mining, catfishing and avatars.
| 1990 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
| 1990 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
| 2010 | West End |
Old Vic Production West End |
| 2017 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Production Broadway |
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Corey Hawkins |
| 2017 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Allison Janney |
| 2017 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play | Six Degrees of Separation |
| 2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Play | Allison Janney |
| 2017 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play | Corey Hawkins |
| 2017 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Six Degrees of Separation |
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