The new Broadway season has begun, and three shows have recently been announced for 2014 debuts.
First off, Kenneth Branagh will finally, at long last, make his Broadway debut when he brings his Manchester International Festival production of The Scottish Play (fine, fine, Macbeth) to the Park Avenue Armory's Drill Hall. (Branagh will star in the title role as well as co-direct with Tony-winner Rob Ashford.) The production will also mark the Broadway debut of TV star Alex Kingston, late of ER and more recently of Doctor Who, as the infamous Lady Macbeth. According to the New York Times, the production in Manchester included a dirt-floored stage that turned into mud when real rain fell. Additional casting and the formal opening date (as well as ticket availability) will be announced later.
For something a bit more mellow, Jason Robert Brown and Marsha Norman's new musical adaptation of Robert James Waller's bestselling novel The Bridges of Madison County (directed by Tony-winner Bartlett Sher) will open on February 27 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. (Previews begin on January 13, for those who want to get in early.) Kelli O'Hara and Steven Pasquale are set to repeat their roles from the recent Williamstown Theatre Festival production. According to Playbill.com, tickets are now available from Telecharge.com.
And finally, an off-Broadway musical from the 1960s that celebrated the movie musicals of the 1920s will finally debut on Broadway: Playbill.com is reporting that Dames at Sea, the show that launched Bernadette Peters to stardom in 1968, will make its main stem debut next year…but a cast, theater and official opening date have yet to be announced. We do hear, however, that Tony-nominee Randy Skinner will direct, so we have high hopes.