Danner and Gugino to Star in Suddenly Last Summer Off-Bway

Roundabout Theatre Company has announced that Blythe Danner and Carla Gugino will appear in the Off-Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams' drama Suddenly Last Summer, directed by Mark Brokaw.  Suddenly Last Summer will begin previews on Friday, October 20th, 2006 and open officially on Wednesday, November 15th, Off-Broadway at the Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46 Street).  It will play a limited engagement through January 21st, 2007.

Additional casting and the design team will be announced shortly.

Brokaw (The Constant Wife) directs the new production of the psychological drama by Tennessee Williams. Tony® and Emmy Award-winner Blythe Danner (Follies, TV's "Huff") "stars as the formidable Mrs. Venable, an aging widow distraught over the mysterious death of her son. When the young cousin traveling with him, played by Carla Gugino (After the Fall), begins raising scandalous allegations, Mrs. Venable will stop at nothing to preserve her son's reputation," state press notes.

Danner won a Tony Award for her performance in Butterflies Are Free, and has also been nominated for her work in Follies, A Streetcar Named Desire and Betrayal.  Other Broadway credits include The Deep Blue Sea, Blithe Spirit, Twelfth Night and The Miser.  Film credits include Meet the Fockers and Meet the Parents, Sylvia, Husbands and Wives, The Prince of Tides, Brighton Beach Memoirs and 1776.  She is a an Emmy Award-winner for her work on "Huff," and has also been nominated on five other occasions (including for "Will & Grace" and "Huff" this year).  Suddenly Last Summer will be her fourth play for the Roundabout.

Gugino made her New York stage debut in Roundabout Theatre Company's 2004 Broadway production of Arthur Miller's After The Fall.  Her film credits include Sin City, The Life Coach, the Spy Kids movies, The Singing Detective, The Center of the World, Judas Kiss, Snake Eyes, Michael, and This Boy's Life.  She also played the title role on the TV show "Karen Sisco."

Suddenly Last Summer premiered Off-Broadway on January 7, 1958 as part of Garden District – a double-bill with another Williams play, Something Unspoken.  In 1959, the play was adapted into a screenplay by Gore Vidal and Tennessse Williams. The movie was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and starred Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn, and Montgomery Clift.

Suddenly Last Summer will play Tuesday through Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. with Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m.  Tickets will be available in September 2006 by calling Roundabout Ticket Services at (212)719-1300, online at www.roundabouttheatre.org or at the Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre box office (111 West 46 Street).  Ticket prices range from $63.75 - $73.75.

Need more Broadway Theatre News in your life?
Sign up for all the news on the Summer season, discounts & more...