|
DIRECTED BY
SEAN MATHIAS.
FEATURING DAVID STRATHAIRN,
ANNE PITONIAK, KEIRA NAUGHTON, AND ERIC MARTIN BROWN.
STRICTLY
LIMITED ENGAGEMENT
17 WEEKS ONLY!
BEGINS TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18th, 2001
AT BROADWAY’S BROADHURST THEATRE.
OPENS ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11th, 2001.
* * * * *
The Shubert Organization, Roger Berlind, Chase Mishkin,
and USA Ostar Theatricals, are
pleased to announce the limited-engagement Broadway run of DANCE OF DEATH, a new adaptation of August Strindberg’s play by Richard
Greenberg (Three Days of Rain,
Eastern Standard) starring Tony Award winner Ian McKellen (Amadeus) and
Tony Award nominee Helen Mirren (A
Month in the Country, TV’s “Prime Suspect”). Directed by Sean
Mathias (Indiscretions), DANCE OF DEATH marks the first time that Ian McKellen and Helen
Mirren have appeared on Broadway since 1994 and 1995, respectively.
The cast of DANCE OF DEATH also features David
Strathairn, Anne Pitoniak, Keira
Naughton and Eric Martin Brown.
DANCE OF DEATH will begin its limited 17-week engagement at The
Broadhurst Theatre (235 West 44th Street) on Tuesday, September 18th, 2001. The Opening Night is Thursday,
October 11th, 2001. The final performance will be Sunday,
January 13th, 2002.
Tickets for DANCE
OF DEATH are scaled at $ 51.25
– 71.25. Tickets will
be available beginning Sunday, August 12, 2001 through Tele-charge at
(212) 239-6200, or at The Broadhurst Theatre box office (235 West 44th
Street) beginning August 13, 2001.
The playing schedule for DANCE
OF DEATH will be Tuesday – Saturday at 8:00 p.m., Wednesday &
Saturday at 2:00 p.m., and Sunday at 3:00 p.m.
A couple, Edgar, a military captain, and his wife,
Alice, a former actress, are preparing to celebrate their silver
anniversary . . . 25 years of living together in a place they have
nicknamed “Little Hell.” Inevitably bound together yet yearning for
escape, the two spend their empty days amusing themselves by matching
wits, their verbal jousts spinning a web of twisted emotion. A visitor
from their past suddenly re-enters their lives . . . will he offer them
freedom from their empty lives or fall victim to their wicked games?
DANCE
OF DEATH was previously staged in New York by the New York
Shakespeare Festival in 1974 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater; a production
adapted and directed by A.J. Antoon, starring Robert Shaw, Zoe Caldwell
and Hector Elizondo. Prior to
that, in 1971, there was a production at the Ritz Theatre (now the Walter
Kerr) adapted by Paul Avila Mayer, directed by Alfred Ryder, and starring
Rip Torn, Viveca Lindfors and Michael Strong.
In 1969, the Roundabout Theatre presented a production adapted and
directed by Gene Feist, starring Sterling Jensen, Anna Reiser and Brian
Hartigan.
DANCE OF DEATH will have set and costume design by Santo
Loquasto, lighting design by Natasha
Katz, and sound design and original music by Dan
Moses Schreier.
BIOGRAPHIES
IAN McKELLEN (Edgar). Sir
Ian McKellen is the most acclaimed theatre actor of his generation,
honored with more than thirty international awards for his performances on
stage and latterly on screen. He
won the Tony Award for the role of Salieri in Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus (1981); the Emmy as best supporting actor in HBO’s
“Rasputin” (1996); he was European Actor of the Year for his screen Richard
III (1996) and was nominated for an Academy Award as James Whale in Gods
and Monsters (1999).
He celebrates his 40th
anniversary as an actor (to the month) with his return to Broadway in DANCE
OF DEATH. On December 19th,
on 10,000 screens worldwide, he appears as the wizard Gandalf the Grey in The
Fellowship of the Ring, the long expected first installment of the
Tolkien trilogy “Lord of the Rings.”
After DANCE OF DEATH he
reverts to Magneto, the Master of Magnetism, in the sequel to last
summer’s blockbuster X-Men.
McKellen was born in the
industrial north of England on May 25, 1939, the son of a civil engineer.
He first acted at school and at Cambridge University, where he
studied English Literature, and appeared in 21 undergraduate productions.
Without any formal dramatic training, he made his dramatic debut in
1961 at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry and for three seasons worked his
apprenticeship with other regional companies, culminating with the
opening of the Nottingham Playhouse (1963), where he was directed by his
childhood hero, director Tyrone Guthrie.
His first London appearance in A
Scent of Flowers (1964) led to an invitation from Laurence Olivier to
join his new National Theatre Company at the Old Vic Theatre. Then
followed two seasons with the touring Prospect Theatre, storming the 1969
Edinburgh Festival as Shakespeare’s Richard
II and Marlowe’s Edward II.
These alternated for two sell-out seasons in London and were televised.
His Hamlet followed and established McKellen as “the leading classical
actor of his generation.”
Although he has played in long
runs in the commercial West End Theatre, his most noted work has been in
the classics with companies that are publicly subsidized to work in
repertoire. He co-founded the
democratically run Actors’ Company which visited the Brooklyn Academy of
Music in 1974. His work with
the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon and in London
(1974-78) included plays by Brecht, Chekhov, Ibsen, Marlowe, Shaw,
Stoppard and Wedekind. For
Trevor Nunn he played Romeo (with Francesca Annis), Macbeth (with Judi
Dench), Leontes, Toby Belch, Face and Iago (with Willard White).
He produced the RSC’s first small-scale tour of the UK (1978).
At the Royal National Theatre,
his hits include Napoli Milonaria,
Coriolanus, Wild Honey (also briefly on Broadway in 1986), Peter
Pan and Enemy of the People (which played the Ahmanson Theatre’s 1998
season in Los Angeles). With
the McKellen/Petherbridge Group at the NT, he produced and acted, playing
the Chicago International Theatre Festival (1986).
As Richard III, he toured
the world from Tokyo to Los Angeles (1990-92).
His most recent stage performances were The Seagull, Present Laughter,
and The Tempest for Jude
Kelly’s company at The West Yorkshire Playhouse (1998).
McKellen’s US debut was in the short-lived and
inaptly-titled The Promise
(1967) on Broadway with Eileen Atkins and Ian McShane.
He has acted at the Brooklyn Academy of Music with the Actors’
Company and the National Theatre. During
its world tour, his solo show Acting
Shakespeare played twice in San Francisco and Los Angeles after the
Broadway season and garnered a Drama Desk Award (1994).
DANCE OF DEATH, twenty
years on, brings him back to the Broadhurst Theatre, where he played
Salieri in Shaffer’s hit Amadeus.
His first starring role on
television was as “David Copperfield” (BBC, 1966). He played Lawrence of Arabia in BBC-TV’s “Ross,” Hitler
in ITV’s “Countdown to War,” Amos Starkadder in Schlesinger’s
“Cold Comfort Farm” with Kate Beckinsale, and a mentally-handicapped
man in the first Film on Four, Stephen Frears’ “Walter” with Sarah
Miles (1982). Also seen on US television were “Edward II,” Hedda Gabler,”
“The Scarlet Pimpernel,” the thriller “Dying Day” and the
documentary “Diary of a Year” (1985).
McKellen won the Peabody Award for his 1984 broadcast “On
Shakespeare’s Birthday,” a Cable Ace Award and an Emmy nomination for
“And the Band Played On” (1993) and an Audie (1996) for his recording
of Robert Fagle’s new version of the “Odyssey.”
His first film role in 1968 was
with Sandy Dennis in Thank You All
Very Much, since then he has made 25 movies.
He was seen as D.H. Lawrence in Priest of Love
(1981). On screen he has
supported Robert Downey Jr., Nick Nolte, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Meryl
Streep. His
Richard III – which he
co-produced and co-scripted – was shot on location in London in 1996. Four years later, McKellen won the Los Angeles Film
Critics’ Association Award, The National Board of Review, a Golden Globe
nomination and an Academy Award nomination, all for Best Actor, for his
performance as film director James Whale in Bill Condon’s Gods
and Monsters, with Brendan Fraser and Lynn Redgrave.
For Bryan Singer he has starred in Apt
Pupil and X-Men.
His position as an openly gay advocate for social change has coincided
with his career: He was the original Max in Sherman’s Bent and for the 1994 Gay Games in New York City, he devised and
performed on Broadway his autobiographical anthology A Knight Out at the Lyceum. Raising
funds for local youth/gay/AIDS charities, this solo show has since been to
South Africa, up and down the UK and across the US, most recently as A
Knight Out in Los Angeles (1997).
Since coming out, Sir Ian has been knighted, taught at Oxford
University, professionally made love to Joanna Whalley (Scandal),
and been married to Greta Scacchi (Rasputin)
and Eileen Atkins twice (in Jack and
Sarah and “Cold Comfort Farm”).
He addressed a million people at the 1994 March on Washington and
continues as a member and volunteer for Stonewall UK which he co-founded
in 1988 to lobby for gay/lesbian equality.
He devises the annual Equality
Show at the Royal Albert Hall.
HELEN MIRREN
(Alice) received a Tony Award nomination for her role as Natalya Petrovna
in the Roundabout Theatre Company production of A Month in the Country (a role she also played on the West End).
Her first theatre experience was with the National Youth Theatre,
culminating in her playing Cleopatra at the Old Vic.
As a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, she has portrayed
most of the classic theatrical roles, including Ophelia, Cressida, Lady
Macbeth, Nina in The Seagull, and the title role in August Strindberg’s Miss
Julie. Ms. Mirren also spent one year with Peter Brook’s
Internationale Center de Recherches Theatre.
Her theatre credits also include Teeth
‘n’ Smiles (Royal Court, Wyndham’s and US Tour), The Bed Before Yesterday (Lyric), Measure For Measure (Riverside), The Duchess of Malfi (Manchester Royal Exchange/The Roundhouse), The
Faith Healer (Royal Court), Antony
and Cleopatra (at RSC and Royal National Theatre), Extremities
(West End), Two Way Mirror, Sex
Please We’re Italian (Young Vic), Collected
Stories (Theatre Royal, Haymarket), and Orpheus
Descending (opposite Stuart Townsend at Donmar Warehouse).
Her
numerous television credits include the role of Inspector Jane Tennison in
the “Prime Suspect” television series (Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award,
and three British Academy of Film and Television Awards for Best Actress),
“Losing Chase” for Showtime (Golden Globe Award), “The Passion of
Ayn Rand” (Emmy and Golden Globe Award).
She recently made her directorial debut this year directing a short
entitled “Happy Birthday” for Showtimes’s “Directed By” film
series.
Ms.
Mirren’s films include the upcoming Trudie Styler produced film Greenfingers (Fireworks Pictures – Samuel Goldwyn Films); Last
Orders, opposite Michael Caine and Bob Hoskins which premieres at the
26th Toronto Film Festival this fall; and Gosford
Park, directed by Robert
Altman. Her other film
credits include The Pledge,
opposite Jack Nicholson and directed by Sean Penn; Killing
Mrs. Tingle; Critical Care; Some
Mother’s Son; The Madness of King George (Best Actress Award at Cannes Film
Festival, Academy Award nomination); Cal
(Best Actress Award at Cannes); The
Mosquito Coast, opposite Harrison Ford;
Excalibur; The Comfort of
Strangers; The Long Good Friday,
opposite Bob Hoskins; White Nights;
Pascali’s Island and Peter Greenaway’s controversial The
Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover.
DAVID STRATHAIRN (Kurt). Mr. Strathairn’s New York stage credits
include Stranger (Vineyard); Ashes
to Ashes, Three Sisters (Roundabout); Hapgood
(Lincoln Center); A Lie of the Mind
(Promenade); Temptation, Salonika;
Fen (Public); Blue Plate
Special (MTC). Regionally, he appeared in The Tempest (ACT in San Francisco); A Doll's House (Hartford Stage); Danton's Death (Center Stage, Baltimore); The Seagull (Kennedy Center); A
Moon for the Misbegotten (Yale Rep); L'atelier
(Long Wharf) and Dark Rapture
(NY Stage and Film Powerhouse Theatre at Vassar College). His numerous film/TV credits include John Sayles' Matewan,
Eight Men Out, Passion Fish
and City of Hope; L.A.
Confidential; Mother Night; Lost in Yonkers;
The River Wild; Dolores Claiborne; Losing
Isaiah; Sneakers; “Beyond
the Call” (Showtime); “Days and Nights of Molly Dodd” (Lifetime);
“O Pioneers” (Hallmark) and “In the Gloaming” (HBO).
ANNE PITONIAK (Maja). Broadway: 'Night Mother (Tony Award nomination), Picnic (Tony Award nomination), The
Octette Bridge Club, Amy's View,
and Uncle Vanya. Off-Broadway: Steel
Magnolias, Pygmalion (Obie Award), Talking
With, The Batting Cage, The
Rose Quartet and The Last of the
Thorntons. Regional theatre includes roles at Actors Theatre of
Louisville, Hartford Stage, Williamstown Theatre Festival, American
Repertory Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, etc. Film: Where
the Money Is, Agnes of God, The Survivors, Old Gringo,
The Opportunists, Unfaithful.
Recent TV work include guest appearances on “E.R.,”
“Becker,” “Third Watch” and “Law & Order SVU.”
KEIRA
NAUGHTON (Jenny). Broadway:
Three Sisters at the Roundabout.
Off-Broadway: All
My Sons (Roundabout), The
American Clock (Signature Theatre Co.), Daisy Archer in the premiere
of Tesla’s Letters (Ensemble
Studio Theatre), Uncle Jack
(Worth Street Theatre), Hotel
Universe (Blue Light Theatre Co.).
Film: Blair Witch 2, The Cradle Will
Rock, Why Don’t You Dance?,
Matt in Love. Keira is also known as “Mrs. Peterson” of the rock band
“The Petersons.”
ERIC
MARTIN BROWN (Sentry) makes his Broadway debut with Dance
of Death. He recently
performed in the Off-Broadway production of
Servicemen, directed by Sean Mathias and produced by Scott Elliot’s
The New Group. His other New
York credits include In Vitro (Soho
Rep), The Woods (Synapse), Ourselves
Alone (HERE), He Saw His
Reflection (Theater for the New City).
Regional credits include Richard
II (The Shakespeare Theatre D.C.) Julius
Caesar (Nebraska Shakespeare Festival), and Richard
III (Yale Repertory Theater).
RICHARD GREENBERG
(Adaptation) is the author of Three
Days of Rain (L.A. Drama Critics Award; Pulitzer finalist; Olivier,
Drama Desk, Hull-Warriner nominations), Night
and Her Stars, The Extra Man,
The American Plan, Eastern
Standard, The Author's Voice, The Maderati, Life Under Water, Safe As Houses, and
Hurrah at Last. Mr. Greenberg’s play Everett
Beekin will be presented by Lincoln Center
Theater this fall. This
spring, his new play, The Dazzle,
will receive productions at South Coast Repertory (Costa Mesa, CA),
Steppenwolf (Chicago), and the Roundabout (New York).
Mr. Greenberg received the 1985 NY Newsday/Oppenheimer Award, as
well as the first PEN/Laura Pels Award for a playwright in mid-career. He is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.
SEAN
MATHIAS (Director) recently directed Servicemen for The New Group, and has been previously represented on
Broadway with Marlene and Indiscretions
(seen in London as Les Parents
Terribles), which was nominated for nine Tony Awards. His London
credits include Wings, Infidelities, Exceptions,
Bent (City Limits Award
for Revival of the Year), Uncle
Vanya (nominated for five Olivier Awards including Best Director and
Best Revival), Ghosts, Les Parents Terribles (nominated for seven Olivier Awards, winner of
the Evening Standard and Critics Circle Awards for Best Director), Design
for Living (Evening Standard and Critics Circle Awards for Best
Director), A Little Night Music,
Antony and Cleopatra (starring
Helen Mirren and Alan Rickman), Suddenly Last Summer and Marlene
(nominated for two Olivier awards). His first feature film, Bent
won awards all around the world, including the Cannes Film Festival.
As a writer his stage plays include Cowardice,
Infidelities (Perrier Pick of the Fringe, 1985), A
Prayer for Wings (Fringe First Award), Poor
Nanny, and Swansea Boys. He adapted David Leavitt's novel “The Lost Language
of Cranes” for BBC Television. Screened at the London Film Festival, it
also won the Golden Gate Award for Best Television Drama and was nominated
for Radio Times’ Best Screenplay. His first novel Manhattan
Mourning is published by Brilliance Books. Mr. Mathias will direct
the forthcoming production of Company
as part of the Sondheim celebration at the Kennedy Center next spring.
#
# #
|
