Film star Robert Downey Jr. will make his Broadway debut this fall in “McNeil,” a new play by Pulitzer Prize-winning Ayad Akhtar (“Disgraced,” “Junk”), which will be produced on Broadway by Lincoln Center Theater at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in the fall, with direction by Bartlett Sher (“South Pacific”).
According to the press release, the “Iron Man” actor will play a well-known writer with “an unhealthy fascination with Artificial Intelligence.”
Ariana Madix will return to ‘Chicago’
TV personality Ariana Madix (“Vanderpump Rules”) will return to the Broadway production of “Chicago” (where she broke box office records earlier this year during a short stint as Roxie Hart) this summer for an encore run from Aug. 1 to 27.
Madix follows in the steps of other reality stars that have played Roxie including Lisa Rinna and Erika Jayne of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”
Taylor and Villafañe to play Nancy Pelosi, AOC
Emmy Award winner Holland Taylor and Ana Villafañe (best known for playing Gloria Estefan in “On Your Feet!”) are set to play Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez respectively – well, sort of.
They will co-star in “N/A,” a new two-hander by Mario Correa, about the first woman Speaker of the House, who is known as N, and the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, who is known as A.
Off-Broadway’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center will showcase “N/A” beginning on June 11; the show, however, is technically not being produced by Lincoln Center Theater). Diane Paulus (“Hair,” “Waitress”) will direct.
‘Gatz’ makes final NYC run at Public Theater
At the moment, there is a musical adaptation of “The Great Gatsby” on Broadway, and another “Gatsby” musical is about to premiere in Cambridge. Unless you haven’t heard, the classic novel recently entered the public domain, which means the estate of F. Scott Fitzgerald is powerless to stop them.
Now comes word that “Gatz,” an eight-hour, unabridged dramatic presentation of the novel, which previously played Off-Broadway in 2011 and 2019, will receive its final New York City run (with most of the original New York cast, including Scott Shepherd as the narrator) in the fall as part of the Public Theater’s upcoming season.
The Public Theater also confirmed that Shakespeare in the Park (on hiatus this summer due to renovations of the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park) will return next summer with the comedy “Twelfth Night.”
Remembering Thomas Gates
Thomas J. Gates, production stage manager of the new Broadway dance musical “Illinoise,” died on May 8 at the age of 51 after being hit by a New Jersey Transit train in South Orange, NJ.
The May 8 performance of “Illinoise” was canceled following his passing and the show’s Broadway run has now been dedicated in his memory.
Gates’ many other Broadway credits included “Waitress,” “Pippin,” “Newsies,” and “Hairspray.” On social media, Sara Bareilles (who wrote “Waitress”) wrote that Gates “was gentle. He was funny, usually without meaning to be. He was soft spoken. Reliable. Generous. Loving. Compassionate. Tired and overworked, but I never heard him complain. He was the first one in and the last one out…Thom Gates will be missed and loved.”
O’Brien and Wolfe to receive lifetime achievement Tonys
Two major veteran directors, Jack O’Brien and George C. Wolfe, will receive Special Tony Awards for Lifetime Achievement this year.
O’Brien’s numerous credits include hit musicals (“Hairspray”), comedies and works by Shakespeare and Tom Stoppard. This summer, O’Brien will direct Patti LuPone and Mia Farrow in “The Roommate.”
Wolfe, who is also a playwright, directed the original productions of “Angels in America,” Topdog/Underdog,” and “Caroline, or Change,” as well as “Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk” and, more recently, an acclaimed revival of “The Iceman Cometh” with Denzel Washington.
In similar news, the Drama Desk announced that Nathan Lane and André Bishop (longtime artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater) will receive lifetime achievement awards.
