Countryman, Hickey, Rudko, Tucci, Murray & More Join MARY STUART Cast; Previews Begin 3/30

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".

The Donmar Warehouse production of MARY STUART transferred into London's West End where it was produced by Arielle Tepper Madover, ACT Productions, Neal Street Productions & Matthew Byam Shaw. MARY STUART played from July 14 through September 3, 2005 at the Donmar Warehouse and later transferred to the Apollo in London's West End, where it played from October 7, 2005 to January 14, 2006.

The production is designed by Anthony Ward, with lighting by Hugh Vanstone and sound by Paul Arditti.

Ticket information will be announced in coming weeks.

BIOGRAPHIES

Janet McTeer (Mary Stuart). Her theatre work includes Duchess of Malfi, Uncle Vanya (NT), A Midsummer Night's Dream, Worlds Apart, The Storm (RSC), Taming of the Shrew (Globe Theatre), A Doll's House (London and New York Tour, winner of a Tony Award), Simpatico, The Grace of Mary, Greenland (Royal Court) and God of Carnage. Her breakthrough film appearance was as Mary Jo in Tumbleweeds. Other film credits include Songcatcher, Waking the Dead, The King Is Alive, The Intended, Half Moon Street, Wuthering Heights, Carrington, Terry Gilliam's Tideland and Kenneth Branagh's As You Like It. Her TV appearances include "The Governor," "Precious Bane," "Portrait of a Marriage," "Five Days," "The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard" and "Sense and Sensibility".

Harriet Walter (Elizabeth I) Harriet's extensive work for theatre includes: For the NT: Dinner, Life x 3, Children's Hour, Arcadia; for the RSC: The Hollow Crown, Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, A Question of Geography, Cymbeline, Three Sisters. Other theatre credits include The Royal Family (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Ivanov, The Possessed (Almeida), Old Times (Wyndhams Theatre), Three Birds Alighting on a Field, The Seagull, Hamlet (Royal Court) and The Castle (Barbican). Her film credits include The Young Victoria, Cheri, From Time to Time, Atonement, Babel, Chromophobia, Bright Young Things, Villa Des Roses, Onegin, Bedrooms & Hallways, Keep the Aspidistra Flying, The Governess, The Leading Man, Sense & Sensibility, The Hour of the Pig, Milou en Mai, The Good Father, Turtle Diary and Reflections. Recent TV appearances include "Little Dorrit," "The Palace," "Ballet Shoes," "Five Days," "Messiah," "Spooks"/"MI-5" and "Midsomer Murders".

Michael Countryman (Sir Amias Paulet) appeared on Broadway in Night Must Fall, Holiday, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, A Few Good Men and Face Value. Off-Broadway: Trumpery, The Butcher Of Baraboo, Mary Rose, Dedication, The Bald Soprano, The Stendhal Syndrome, House and Garden, The Clearing, Nine Armenians, All in the Timing, a Drama Desk nomination for both The Common Pursuit and Out. Regional: world and American premieres at Hartford Stage, McCarter, Guthrie and Long Wharf. Film: Burn After Reading, PS I Love You, Guerilla, The Namesake, Black Knight, You Can Count on Me, Ransom, Deceived and Once Again. TV: "John Adams," "The Sopranos," "NYPD Blue," "Law & Order," "Third Watch," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," "Notes for My Daughter" and "Kate and Allie," among others.

John Benjamin Hickey (Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester) has appeared on Broadway in The Crucible, the Tony Award-winning revival of Cabaret, Love! Valour! Compassion! (also at MTC). Other NY credits include God's Heart, The Substance of Fire (Lincoln Center Theater), On the Bum, The End of the Day (Playwrights Horizons). He has appeared regionally at the Long Wharf, NY Stage & Film and several summers at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Film: Then She Found Me, Freedom Writers, Flags of Our Fathers, Fast Track, Every Word is True, Flightplan, Changing Lanes, The Anniversary Party, Hamlet, The Bone Collector, The Ice Storm, Love! Valour! Compassion!, Finding North, Only You, The Ref, JFK. TV includes "In Plain Sight," "Brothers and Sisters," "A House Divided," "Alias," "Days and Nights of Molly Dodd," "It's All Relative," "Sex and the City," "Law & Order," "Third Rock From the Sun".

Michael Rudko (Count Aubespine/Melvil). recently appeared in Germany at the Dusseldorfer Schauspielhaus as Leather in Sheila Callahan's We Are Not These Hands. He is currently working on the world premiere of The House in Hydesville at Geva Theater in Rochester. New York: Albany in Kevin Kline's King Lear (Public); Gore Vidal's The Best Man, Timon of Athens, Serious Money (Broadway) as well as Julie Taymor's Titus Andronicus. London: alternated lead roles with Mark Rylance in Matthew Warchus' True West (Donmar Warehouse); all-male productions of Antony and Cleopatra and Julius Caesar (Shakespeare's Globe). LA: American premiere of Joshua Sobel's iWitness (Mark Taper Forum). Regional: principal roles at Baltimore's CenterStage, Shakespeare Theater and Arena Stage in Washington, DC, San Diego's Old Globe, Yale Rep, McCarter. TV: "Law and Order," "The Equalizer". He is a graduate of Yale and the Juilliard School.

Robert Stanton (William Davison) Broadway: The Coast of Utopia, A Small Family Business. Off-Broadway: The Right Kind of People, The Bald Soprano, Arturo Ui, Fuddy Meers, Cymbeline, Overtime, A Cheever Evening, All in the Timing (Obie), Owners, Traps, Rum and Coke, Measure for Measure. Regional: On the Razzle (Williamstown); Love Child, written with Daniel Jenkins (NYS&F); Westport, Long Wharf, George Street, Philadelphia Theatre Company, ART, Hartford. Films: Oliver Hirschbiegel's The Invasion, Find Me Guilty, The Stepford Wives, Head of State, The Quiet American, Next Stop Wonderland, Mercury Rising, Washington Square, Red Corner, Striptease, Dennis the Menace, Bob Roberts. TV: various "Law & Orders," "Frasier," "Don't Drink the Water." MFA, NYU.

Maria Tucci (Hanna Kennedy) Broadway: The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore, The Rose Tattoo, The Night of the Iguana, The Deputy, The School for Wives, Spokesong, Athol Fugard's A Lesson From Aloes, Requiem for a Heavyweight, Mike Nichols' The Little Foxes, Kingdoms. Off-Broadway: Patrick Breen's Marking (directed by daughter, Elizabeth Gottlieb), The Stendahl Syndrome, The Substance of Fire, E.L. Doctorow's Drinks Before Dinner, The Trojan Women, The White Devil, Edna O'Brien's A Pagan Place, The Gathering and Yerma. Regional: Juliet, Ophelia, Antigone, Hermione, Major Barbara, etc; Sweet Bird of Youth, Mrs. Warren's Profession, The Royal Family, The Three Sisters, Fugard's Hello and Goodbye. Film: Touch and Go, Daniel, Sweet Nothing, To Die For. TV: "Law & Order," Eugene O'Neill's "Beyond the Horizon" and "Concealed Enemies."

Chandler Williams (Mortimer). Broadway: Lieutenant Yolland in the acclaimed revival of Translations, directed by Garry Hynes (MTC at the Biltmore). Off-Broadway: Crimes of the Heart (Kathleen Turner, Roundabout); Rope (David Warren, Drama Dept.); Tennessee Williams' One Arm (Moises Kaufman, Public workshop); The Mysteries (Brian Kulick, CSC); Andorra (Liviu Cuilei, TFANA). Regional: Richard II (title role) and Luminosity (PlayMaker's Rep); Translations (McCarter). Williamstown: Crimes of the Heart; Lady Windemere's Fan (Moises Kaufman); On the Razzle (David Jones); Winter's Tale (Darko Tresnjak); Once in a Lifetime, Street Scene (Michael Greif). Film: Kinsey; Merchant Ivory's Heights; The Caller; Bedlam (short); Michael Mann's Public Enemies.

Nicholas Woodeson (William Cecil, Lord Burleigh) has appeared on Broadway in Jumpers (also National, West End), Inspector Goole in An Inspector Calls (also West End), Good (also RSC), Piaf and Man and Superman. Off-Broadway: House and Garden, The Art of Success (MTC). Other theatre: Art (West End), The Birthday Party (National), The Chairs (Gate), Romance, Mr. Peter's Connections, The Possibilites (Almeida), Hard Fruit, Bazaar, Berlin Bertie, Doing the Business (Royal Court), American Buffalo (Young Vic), many seasons at RSC, including Olivier nominated performances in Flight, Sarcophagus. Film: Pope Joan, Amazing Grace, Conspiracy, Topsy-Turvy, The Avengers, The Man Who Knew Too Little, The Pelican Brief, The Russia House, Heaven's Gate. TV: "Red Riding," "Foyles War," "Rome," Dave Chapelle Show," "Waking the Dead," "Great Expectations," "Woman in White," "Hedda Gabler," "Bonjour La Classe," "Miami Vice," "Hound of the Baskervilles," "A Rumor of War," among others.

Brian Murray (George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury). Broadway: The Rivals, The Crucible (Tony nom.), Uncle Vanya (Drama Desk nom.), Twelfth Night, The Little Foxes (Drama Desk Award, Tony nom.), Racing Demon, A Small Family Business (Drama Desk nom.), Noises Off (Drama Desk Award), Black Comedy, Sleuth, Da, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Tony nom.) Off Broadway: Gaslight, Colder Than Here, Much Ado About Nothing, Beckett/Albee, Scattergood, Hobson's Choice, The Play About the Baby (Obie Award), Long Day's Journey Into Night, The Entertainer, Entertaining Mr. Sloane, Misalliance, Molly Sweeney, Travels with My Aunt (Drama Desk, OCC awards), Mud River Stone, Ashes (Obie), Spread Eagle, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing and The Butterfly Collection. Regional: The world premieres of Edward Albee's Me, Myself and I and A Seagull In The Hamptons at the McCarter and Alfred Uhry's Edgardo Mine at Hartford Stage and The Guthrie. As director (Broadway): The Circle, Blithe Spirit, Hay Fever, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Show Off, The Waltz of the Toreadors. Film/TV: Bob Roberts, City Hall, Treasure Planet (voice of John Silver) "The Investigation," "Liberty," "Hamlet," "Twelfth Night." Recipient: 1998 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence, 1998 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work, Fox Foundation Fellow.

Friedrich Schiller (Playwright) German playwright Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) began writing as a means of escape during his enforced military service. After penning his first play, The Robbers (1782), his work was discovered by his superiors and he was forbidden to write. He deserted and lived under an assumed name, working as a court playwright and stage manager. His other plays included Intrigue and Love (1784), Don Carlos (1787), Wallenstein's Camp (1798), The Piccolomini (1799), Wallenstein's Death (1799), Mary Stuart (1800), Maid of Orleans (1801) and William Tell (1804). He formed a close friendship with Goethe, and their collaboration made the Weimar Theatre one of the most prestigious in Germany. He died in 1805 of tuberculosis.

Peter Oswald (New Version) Oswald's original work includes The Swansong of Ivanhoe Wasteway, Allbright, Valdorama, Augustine's Oak and The Golden Ass; and translations include Schiller's Don Carlos, Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannos, Racine's Phaedra, Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards, Lorca's Dona Rosita The Spinster and a stage adaptation of the Sanskrit epic The Ramayana.

Phyllida Lloyd (Director) has directed plays, operas and most recently the movie of Mamma Mia! Her London theater work includes The Duchess of Malfi, The Way of the World, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Pericles (NT), Six Degrees of Separation, Hysteria, Wild East (Royal Court) Threepenny Opera, Boston Marriage, Mary Stuart (Donmar), The Taming of the Shrew (Globe). Her opera work includes Gloriana, Albert Herring, Peter Grimes (Opera North) Wagner's Ring, The Carmelites, Verdi's Requiem, The Handmaid's Tale (ENO) and Macbeth (ROH, Paris and Barcelona) Her stage production of Mamma Mia! is playing worldwide.

The Donmar Warehouse is one of London's leading producing theatres and has garnered critical acclaim at home and abroad for its unparalleled catalogue of work. Since 1992, Donmar-generated productions have received 30 Olivier Awards, 15 Critics' Circle Awards, 19 Evening Standard Awards and 13 Tony Awards. The Donmar has a long and successful history of presenting its work outside of its home in Covent Garden. Productions in the West End include Mary Stuart, Frost/Nixon, A Voyage Round My Father, Guys and Dolls, Design for Living, The Glass Menagerie, Company, The Real Thing and Passion Play, and currently Piaf at the Vaudeville, and Twelfth Night - the second production in the Donmar West End season at the Wyndham's. Productions on Broadway include Frost/Nixon (currently on tour in the US), Cabaret, Electra, The Blue Room, The Real Thing, True West, Nine and the Public Theater and Donmar collaboration of Take Me Out.

Photo: Harriet Walter as Elizabeth I and Janet McTeer as Mary Stuart by Alastair Muir