OF MICE AND MEN, Starring James Franco and Chris O'Dowd, Begins Tonight at the Longacre Theatre

Directed by Tony Award-winner Anna D. Shapiro, the new Broadway production of Of Mice and Men begins performances tonight, Wednesday, March 19, 2014, and will officially open on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 at the Longacre Theatre (220 West 48th Street).

Starring Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner James Franco, Chris O'Dowd, Leighton Meester and Tony Award winner Jim Norton, Of Mice and Men features Ron Cephas Jones, Alex Morf, Joel Marsh Garland, James McMenamin, Jim Ortlieb, Jim Parrack, Michael Dempsey, Kevin Jackson, Erica Lutz and Stephen Payne.

The creative team for Of Mice and Men includes scenic design by Tony Award winner Todd Rosenthal (August: Osage County, The Motherfucker with the Hat, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf), costume design by the international, Emmy Award-winning designer of the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony,Suttirat Larlarb (127 Hours, Slumdog Millionaire, Royal National Theatre's Frankenstein), lighting design by Tony Award nominee Japhy Weideman (The Nance, What's It All About?: Bacharach Reimagined, Macbeth, The Snow Geese) and sound design by Rob Milburn & Michael Bodeen (No Man's Land & Waiting for Godot, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Grapes of Wrath).

Of Mice and Men, one of the greatest and most enduring American classics, has not been seen on Broadway in 40 years.

Adapted from his own classic novel, John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is an essential adventure, an inspirational portrait of the American spirit and a heartbreaking testament to the bonds of friendship. Of Mice and Men tells the story of George (James Franco) and Lennie (Chris O'Dowd), an unlikely pair of friends drifting from job to job across the farms and fields of California, holding fast to their dream of one day having an acre of land they can call their own.

Of Mice and Men is one of the most read books in schools across the country despite appearing on the American Library Association's list of Most Challenged Books of the 21stCentury. Of Mice and Men began as a novella published in 1937 by Nobel Prize winning author John Steinbeck.

Of Mice and Men was adapted for the screen several times and adapted as a radio play for the BBC. The first stage production was directed by George S. Kaufman in 1937 and ran for 207 performances.

Of Mice and Men on Broadway is produced by David Binder, Kate Lear, Darren Bagert, Adam Zotovich, Latitude Link/Piedmont Productions, Raise the Roof, Paula Marie Black, Marc Turtletaub, Ruth Hendel/Barbara Whitman,Marianne Mills/Jayne Baron Sherman, Martin Massman, Judy Kent/Wendy Knudsen, Kevin Niu, Michael WattandThe Shubert Organization. 101 Productions, Ltd are the executive producers.