Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden will star in GOD OF CARNAGE, the new play by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton, directed by Matthew Warchus, opening on Broadway at the Bernard Jacobs Theatre (242 West 45 Street) on Sunday March 22. Previews will begin on February 28.
GOD OF CARNAGE will be produced by
Robert Fox,
David Pugh &
Dafydd Rogers,
Stuart Thompson,
Scott Rudin, and
The Shubert Organization. The play comes to Broadway after a sold-out run in London's West End in 2008.
The London critics raved about GOD OF CARNAGE: The Times called it "tense, edgy and funny" and praised Reza's "incisive observation, acerbic wit and shrewd humor." The Daily Telegraph called it "a crackling night" and The Daily Mail called the play "terrific stuff . " The Daily Express said it was "a triumph" and The International Herald Tribune proclaimed "'God of Carnage' is an expert piece of stagecraft and savagely funny."
GOD OF CARNAGE reunites the creative team that staged the Tony Award-winning Best Play, Art. Designed by
Mark Thompson (sets and costumes), with lighting by
Hugh Vanstone, sound by
Simon Baker &
Chris Cronin, the play has music by
Gary Yershon.
GOD OF CARNAGE is a comedy of manners without the manners. The play deals with the aftermath of a playground altercation between two boys and what happens when their parents meet to talk about it.
Jeff Daniels' Broadway credits include Redwood Curtain and Fifth of July (Drama Desk Award). He recently appeared in Manhattan Theatre Club's American premiere of Blackbird and received a Drama Desk nomination for Lemon Sky, as well as an Obie for Johnny Got His Gun (Circle Rep). His film credits include Ragtime; Terms of Endearment; Purple Rose of Cairo; Something Wild; Fly Away Home; Pleasantville; Gettysburg; Dumb and Dumber; The Hours, Imaginary Heroes; Goodnight, and Good Luck; and The Squid and the Whale.
Hope Davis appeared on Broadway in Ivanov and Two Shakespearean Actors. Her off-Broadway credits include Spinning Into Butter, Pterodactyls; The Food Chain; The Iceman Cometh and Speed the Plow. Her extensive film credits include The Daytrippers; Next Stop, Wonderland; Arlington Road; Mumford; About Schmidt; Proof; Synecdoche NY, and American Splendor, for which she received the New York Film Critics Circle Award and a Golden Globe nomination. She will next be seen in Season 2 of HBO's "In Treatment."
James Gandolfini is best known for his performance as Tony Soprano in HBO's "The Sopranos" for which he received a Golden Globe, four SAG Awards and three Emmy Awards. He made his Broadway debut when he appeared with
Jessica Lange and
Alec Baldwin in A Streetcar Named Desire. His numerous film credits include Romance & Cigarettes; The Man Who Wasn't There; The Castle; The Mexican; Get Shorty, the upcoming The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3, Where The Wild Things Are and In the Loop. He executive produced the Emmy-nominated HBO Documentary Film "Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq."
Marcia Gay Harden received a Tony Award nomination and Drama Desk and Theatre World Awards for her performance on Broadway in Angels in America, and appeared in the The Seagull directed by
Mike Nichols and co-starring
Meryl Streep,
Kevin Kline,
Philip Seymour Hoffman and
Natalie Portman. She received an Academy Award for her performance in Pollock and an Academy Award nomination for Mystic River. Her numerous film roles include The Spitfire Grill; Miller's Crossing; The First Wives Club;
Mona Lisa Smile; Used People; The Hoax; Meet
Joe Black; Into the Wild; Casa de los Babys; Space Cowboys, and The Mist. Her TV credits include "Damages" and "Law and Order: SVU," for which she received an Emmy nomination.
Matthew Warchus was recently represented on Broadway by Boeing, Boeing. His other Broadway credits are
Yasmina Reza's Art and Life (x) 3, True West and Follies. He has received three Tony Award and two Drama Desk Award nominations. Off-Broadway he directed Ms. Reza's The Unexpected Man. His numerous West End credits include God of Carnage; Speed the Plow; The Norman Conquests;
The Life of Stuff; Art; True West; The Unexpected Man; Life (x) 3; Our House; Tell Me on a Sunday, and Endgame.
Yasmina Reza is a French playwright and novelist based in Paris whose works have all been multi-award winning, critical and popular international successes. Her play, Art, won Olivier, Tony, and New York Drama Critics Circle Awards for Best Play.
The National Theatre production of Life (x) 3 received an Olivier Award nomination for Best Play. Other plays include Conversations After A Burial; The Passage of Winter, The Spanish Play, and The Unexpected Man. Those plays, as well as Art and Life (x) 3 have been translated into 35 languages and produced worldwide. Her last novel, Dawn Dusk or Night: My Year with Nicolas Sarkozy (Knopf 2008), has been translated worldwide.
