Two extraordinary actresses return to Manhattan Theatre Club in a vibrant new production of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes.
In a thrilling coup, MTC will present three-time Tony Award nominee Laura Linney (Time Stands Still, Sight Unseen) and Tony winner Cynthia Nixon (Rabbit Hole, Wit), who will alternate playing the roles of Regina and Birdie in Lillian Hellman's legendary play about greed and ambition.
Set in Alabama in 1900, The Little Foxes follows Regina Giddens and her ruthless clan, including her sister-in-law Birdie, as they clash in often brutal ways in an effort to strike the deal of their lives. Far from a sentimental look at a bygone era, the play has a surprisingly timely resonance with important issues facing our country today. Tony winner Daniel Sullivan (Proof, Rabbit Hole) will direct.
Sullivan's old-school refinement as a director is exactly what's called for in this merciless tale of greed and cunning. The Little Foxes is not a play loaded with subtext that rewards stripped-down surgical re-examination, which would explain why it was among the less illuminating forays into 20th-century American drama for leading experimentalist Ivo van Hove. But served straight, with the right actors, it's a crackling good yarn. The closest thing to a radical touch here is having lead actresses Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon alternate in the roles of Regina Giddens, the hungriest of the Hubbards and ultimately the snakiest; and Birdie, her alcoholic sister-in-law and the one character legitimately descended from Southern aristocracy.
Daniel Sullivan directs Hellman's Alabama tale with a crisp vigor that smooths over its melodramatic bumps. The prime mover is Regina, who plots with brothers Ben and Oscar (malevolently perfect Michael McKean and Darren Goldstein) to close a deal on a cotton mill in order to make them all filthy rich. The cast is uniformly strong, and outstanding work comes from the leading ladies. Linney is fire and ice: regal yet ready to spit venom. And Nixon, in the configuration I saw, is delicately touching as the meek, damaged Birdie. The Little Foxes may not command as high a prospect in the pantheon of American drama as more poetic work by Tennessee Williams or Eugene O'Neill, but it's cunningly built and packs a punch; it's the August: Osage County of the interwar years.
| 1939 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1967 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1981 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1997 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 2010 | Off-Broadway |
New York Theatre Workshop Production Off-Broadway |
| 2017 | Broadway |
Manhattan Theatre Club Broadway Revival Production Broadway |
| 2024 | West End |
West End |
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | BroadwayWorld Awards | Best Featured Actress in a Play | Cynthia Nixon |
| 2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Play | Laura Linney |
| 2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Costume Design for a Play | Jane Greenwood |
| 2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Director of a Play | Daniel Sullivan |
| 2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Cynthia Nixon |
| 2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design for a Play | Justin Townsend |
| 2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Play | The Little Foxes |
| 2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Wig and Hair | Tom Watson |
| 2017 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Laura Linney |
| 2017 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Cynthia Nixon |
| 2017 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play | The Little Foxes |
| 2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Play | Laura Linney |
| 2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Play | Daniel Sullivan |
| 2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | Richard Thomas |
| 2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Cynthia Nixon |
| 2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Play (Broadway or Off-Broadway) | The Little Foxes |
| 2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Set Design (Play or Musical) | Scott Pask |
| 2017 | Tony Awards | Best Costume Design of a Play | Jane Greenwood |
| 2017 | Tony Awards | Best Direction of a Play | Daniel Sullivan |
| 2017 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play | Richard Thomas |
| 2017 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play | Cynthia Nixon |
| 2017 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play | Laura Linney |
| 2017 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes |
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