Rialto Chatter: Allison Janney to Return to Broadway Next Season?

According to Page Six, Allison Janney will make her return to Broadway next season in the first Broadway revival of Six Degrees of Separation. No director has been announced, but the original director, Jerry Zaks, will be represented on Broadway this season with A Bronx Tale and Hello, Dolly!

John Guare's sharp, vivacious drama Six Degrees Of Separation is inspired by the real life story of a flamboyant con artist who managed to convince wealthy residents of Manhattan's Upper East Side he was the son of Sidney Poitier.

Six Degrees Of Separation premiered on Broadway in 1990 before receiving its UK premiere at the Royal Court in 1992, in a production that transferred to the Comedy theatre and won the 1993 Best New Play Laurence Olivier Award. Stockard Channing, who appeared in the play on both sides of the pond, went on to star in a film version with Donald Sutherland and Will Smith.

Allison Janney's Broadway performances as Beatrice in Arthur Miller's "A View from the Bridge" opposite Anthony LaPaglia brought her a Tony nomination and both the Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards for Best Supporting Actress. She also starred in the production of "Taming of the Shrew" (New York Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park), "9 to 5" on Broadway, and Lillian Hellman's "The Autumn Garden" (Williamstown Theatre Festival). On film, Ms. Janney appeared in the screen version of the Broadway musical "Hairspray" and in "Juno". She starred opposite Meryl Streep in "The Hours" and in "American Beauty" (for which she won a SAG Award for Outstanding Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture). Other films include "Nurse Betty," "How to Deal," "Drop Dead Gorgeous" "10 Things I Hate About You," "Primary Colors," "The Ice Storm," "Celebrity," "Six Days Seven Nights," "The Object of My Affection," "Big Night," and the voice of Gladys in the animated comedy "Over the Hedge" and as Peach in "Finding Nemo." Television includes CJ Cregg in the award-winning NBC series "The West Wing," winning four SAG Awards, four Emmys, and nominated for four Golden Globes.