Additional casting has been announced for the Donmar Warehouse production of MARY STUART, Friedrich Schiller's classic play in a new version by Peter Oswald, which opens April 19, 2009 at the Broadhurst Theatre (235 West 44th Street). The production, starring its acclaimed original London leads Janet McTeer and Harriet Walter and directed by Phyllida Lloyd, begins previews on March 30, 2009 for a limited run of 20 weeks only.
Joining Ms. McTeer as Mary Queen of Scots and Ms. Walter as Elizabeth I, will be Michael Countryman (Night Must Fall, Laughter on the 23rd Floor) as Sir Amias Paulet; John Benjamin Hickey (Cabaret, Love! Valour! Compassion!,) as Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester; Michael Rudko (The Best Man, Serious Money) as Count Aubespine/Melvil; Robert Stanton (The Coast of Utopia, All in the Timing) as William Davison; Maria Tucci (Tony Award® nominee for The Rose Tattoo) as Hanna Kennedy; Chandler Williams (Translations) as Mortimer; Nicholas Woodeson (Jumpers, An Inspector Calls) as William Cecil, Lord Burleigh; and three-time Tony Award® nominee Brian Murray (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Da, Noises Off) as George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury.
The first Broadway production of MARY STUART in almost 40 years will be produced by Arielle Tepper Madover, Debra Black, Barbara Whitman, David Binder, Neal Street Productions and Matthew Byam Shaw.
For a Queen to stand, a Queen must fall. Written by Friedrich Schiller in 1800, MARY STUART is a thrilling account of the extraordinary relationship between England's Elizabeth I (Harriet Walter) and her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots (Janet McTeer), Elizabeth's rival to the throne. With its behind the scenes intrigue, scheming and betrayal, the play has the contemporary feel of a modern-day political thriller. MARY STUART builds to one of the most electrifying dramatic confrontations in world theatre, in which Schiller imagines a meeting between the two monarchs on the grounds at Fotheringay Castle.
McTeer is making her first Broadway appearance since her Tony Award-winning performance in A Doll's House in 1997. Walter, who won the 2005 Evening Standard Award for Best Actress for her performance, is returning to Broadway for the first time since the Royal Shakespeare Company's All's Well That Ends Well in 1983.
When it premiered in London in 2005, Ben Brantley, New York Times, hailed this production of MARY STUART as "Ripping. A stage burner of a revival. Mary Stuart is portrayed to a red-blooded fare-thee-well by Janet McTeer. Queen Elizabeth I is portrayed with glittering iciness by Harriet Walter. Mary Stuart has never seemed more pertinent than it does in this vivid incarnation, staged by Phyllida Lloyd." The Daily Telegraph pronounced it "Exhilirating... Pure Class!" The Times raved, "Terrific Acting, Terrific Theatre, Terrific Schiller". The Daily Mail called the production "Unforgettable". The Observer raved, "Phyllida Lloyd has provided a gleaming, intense Mary Stuart. It's thrillingly staged and acted to the hilt". The Sunday Times claimed, "Both female leads crackle with the kind of gun-powder charisma that sparks devotion and forments intrigue. In this fine production, every lie, every deception, rings true".
