China Doll, the new play by David Mamet starring Tony, Emmy and Academy Award-winner Al Pacino, officially opens tonight, December 4, after a two-week delay.
Directed by Tony Award-winner Pam MacKinnon (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf) and co-starring Christopher Denham ("Master Harold"... and the Boys, Argo, "Manhattan"), China Doll plays the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre (236 West 45th Street) and marks the tenth presentation of a David Mamet work by Messrs Richards, Frankel and Treaxler on Broadway and in the West End.
Presented by
Jeffrey Richards,
Jerry Frankel, and
Steve Traxler, CHINA DOLL tells the story of Mickey Ross, a man of means who is ready to walk away from it all to start a new life with his young fiancée. Then one phone call changes everything...
CHINA DOLL has scenic design by Tony Award-winner Derek McLane (33 Variations, Beautiful The Carol King Musical), costume design by Tony Award-winner Jess Goldstein (The Rivals, Jersey Boys), and lighting design by Russell H. Champa (In the Next Room (or the vibrator play)). The show was cast by Telsey & Company and Bialy/Thomas Associates.
Al Pacino (Mickey Ross) was last seen on Broadway portraying the role of Shelly Levene in Mamet's acclaimed Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Glengarry Glen Ross and was also recently seen as
Phil Spector in the HBO film written by
David Mamet. Mr. Pacino is a two-time Tony Award winner who also starred in the 1983 revival of American Buffalo. He is also an Academy Award winner, four-time Golden Globe winner, and two-time Emmy Award winner.
China Doll marks his twelfth time appearing on Broadway, including The Merchant of Venice, Salomé, Hughie, The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel, Camino Real, and Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie, among others.
Christopher Denham (Carson) made his Broadway debut opposite
Danny Glover in "Master Harold"... and the boys, as was also seen on Broadway inThe Lieutenant of Inishmore. Other New York stage credits include The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durin (
Roundabout Theater Company),Kindness (Playwright's Horizons), and Red Light Winter (Barrow Street/Steppenwolf), for which he won the
Lucille Lortel Award for Best Actor. Denham also appeared on screen in films such as Argo (2013 Academy Award for Best Picture and Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast), Shutter Island starring
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Bay, Sound of My Voice, Duplicity, Charlie Wilson's War, and the upcoming Money Monsteropposite
George Clooney and
Julia Roberts, directed by
Jodie Foster. He is a series regular on WGN's Emmy-nominated "Manhattan."
David Mamet (Playwright) is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Glengarry Glen Ross. His other plays include Race, Oleanna, American Buffalo, Speed-the-Plow, November and Sexual Perversity in Chicago, among others. Earlier this year, Mr. Mamet was represented on the West End by a production ofAmerican Buffalo starring
Damian Lewis,
John Goodman, and
Tom Sturridge, at the Wyndham Theatre.
Pam MacKinnon (Director). Recent credits include
Wendy Wasserstein's The Heidi Chronicles (Broadway);
Bruce Norris' The Qualms (
Playwrights Horizons, Steppenwolf);
Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance (Broadway);
Bruce Norris'Clybourne Park (Broadway,
Playwrights Horizons, and Mark Taper; Tony and Lortel nominations, Obie Award);
Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Broadway, Steppenwolf, and
Arena Stage; Tony and Drama Desk Awards, Outer Critics Circle nomination); and Sarah Teem's When We Were Young and Unafraid (Manhattan Theatre Club). Pam is an alumna of the Drama League, the Women's Project and
Lincoln Center Theater Directors Labs; an associate artist of the
Roundabout Theater Company; executive board member of Stage Directors and Choreographers; and board chair of the New York City downtown company Clubbed Thumb, dedicated to new American plays.
Photo Credit: Jeremy Daniel
