Tony Award-winners Ralph Fiennes and Cherry Jones will open on Broadway
in The Dublin Gate Theatre production of Brian Friel's play Faith Healer
at the Booth Theatre (222 W 45th St) on Thursday, May 4th. Produced by
Sonia Friedman Productions Ltd and Michael Colgan, Bob Bartner, Roger
Berlind, Scott Rudin and Spring Sirkin and directed by Jonathan Kent,
the play also stars Ian McDiarmid. Preview performances began Tuesday,
April 18th.
"Faith Healer tells the moving tale of dissolute, charismatic
Frank Hardy (Fiennes), his long-time lover (Jones) and his devoted
manager (McDiarmid) as they travel the back roads of Scotland and Wales
peddling miracles. As the three wrestle with Hardy's genuine but
elusive gift for healing, they ask potent questions about who we trust,
what we know and why we believe," state press notes.
Ralph
Fiennes returns to Broadway for the first time since his acclaimed
performance as Hamlet over a decade ago. That performance, also
directed by Jonathan Kent, won him the 1995 Tony and Drama Desk Awards
for Best Actor. He received Oscar nominations for Schindler's List and The English Patient. Other notable films include Quiz Show, Strange Days, The End of the Affair, Red Dragon and last year's Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire and The Constant Gardener. British stage credits include Brand, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Fathers and Sons, King John, The Talking Cure, the title roles in Coriolanus and Richard II and 2005's Julius Caesar.
Jones won her second Tony Award in 2005 for her shattering performance as Sister Aloysius in Doubt, previously winning for 1995's The Heiress. She was Tony-nominated for A Moon for the Misbegotten and her Broadway debut performance in Our Country's Good. Film credits include
Ocean's Twelve, The Village, Signs, Swimmers, Cradle Will Rock, Erin
Brockovich, The Horse Whisperer, The Perfect Storm, Divine Secrets of
the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and the Lifetime movie "What Makes a Family."
Best known to moviegoers for his role as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine in Star Wars Episodes I, II and III, McDiarmid is a former joint artistic director of the Almeida Theatre in London. He appeared at the Almeida in Faith Healer in 2001. Other UK stage credits include Ivanov,
Tartuffe, School For Wives and Creditors at the Almeida Theatre; Henry
V, The Merchant of Venice, The Party, The War Plays, Crimes In Hot
Countries and The Castle for the RSC and acclaimed work at the Royal Court and in the West End.
Faith Healer features set and costume design by Jonathan Fensom and lighting design by Mark Henderson.