THE NEWSROOM premieres on HBO this Sunday, June 24th at 10pm and there are plenty of reasons to theatre enthusiasts to tune in - a healthy handful, in fact, if you count the number of major theatrical players involeved with the project.
The series comes to HBO from Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, The Farnsworth Invention on Broadway), and stars Jeff Daniels (God of Carnage), Sam Waterston (Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Much Ado About Nothing) and features John Gallagher Jr. (Spring Awakening, American Idiot), Alison Pill (Lieutenant of Inishman, Miracle Worker), and Thomas Sadoski (Other Desert Cities, House of Blue Leaves, Reasons to Be Pretty). The executive producing team, which is led by Sorkin, also includes longtime Broadway producer Scott Rudin (The Book of Mormon, Death of a Salesman, One Man Two Guvnors). Screen vets Emily Mortimer and Olivia Munn also co-star.
THE NEWSROOM focuses on a network anchor (Daniels), his new executive producer (Emily Mortimer), and their boss (Waterston), and tracks their quixotic mission to do the news well in the face of corporate and commercial obstacles - not to mention their own personal entanglements.
Want to meet the Broadway team in THE NEWSROOM? Read on and check out the special sneak peek of the series just below!
Jeff Daniels ("Will McAvoy")
Jeff Daniels originated the role of ‘Alan' in the original Broadway production of GOD OF CARNAGE, for which he received a Tony nomination. His other Broadway credits include Redwood Curtain, The Golden Age and Fifth of July.
Sam Waterston ("Charlie Skinner")
On stage, Sam Waterston has appeared in over a dozen Broadway productions, including Abe Lincoln in Illinois, A Walk In The Woods, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, A Doll's House and More. He was last seen on stage this past season at The Public Theatre as King Lear. On screen, he is best known in the film world for his Academy Award-nominated portrayal of Sydney Schanberg in 1984's The Killing Fields, and his Golden Globe- and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning portrayal of Jack McCoy on the NBC television series Law & Order. He has starred in over eighty film and teleVision Productions during his forty-five year career.
John Gallagher Jr. ("Jim Harper")
John Gallagher Jr. is best known to the Broadway community for Tony Award-winning performance in Spring Awakening. He has also starred on Broadway in The Rabbit Hole, American Idiot and Jerusalem. Off-Broadway credits include Prt Authority, Farragut North, and Kimberly Akimbo. Screen credits include The West Wing, Law & Order: SVU, NYPD Blue, Ed, Love Monkey, and HallMark Hall of Fame's The Flamingo Rising, and Pieces of April, Woody Allen's Whatever Works, Jonah Hex, and Kenneth Lonergan's Margaret on the big screen.
Thomas Sadoski began his award-winning stage career as Mark Ruffalo and Mark Rosenthal's understudy in the Off-broadway production of Kenneth Lonergan's This is Our Youth. In 2008 he originated the role of 'Greg' in Neil LaBute's play Reasons To Be Pretty both Off-Broadway at MCC and then on Broadway (where he was honored for a Tony Award). This past season, he originated the role of 'Trip Wyeth' in Jon Robin Baitz's Other Desert Cities. He has also been seen on Broadway in John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves.
Alison Pill ("Maggie Jordan")
Alison Pill has been seen on Broadway in The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Maurtius, The Miracle Worker, and most recently, The House of Blue Leaves. On screen, she is best known from her roles in Milk, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and Midnight in Paris.
Aaron Sorkin (Series Creator, Executive Producer)
Sorkin is an Academy and Emmy award winning American screenwriter, producer, and playwright, whose works include A Few Good Men, The American President, The West Wing, Sports Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Charlie Wilson's War, The Social Network, and Moneyball on screen. On Broadway, he is the author of the celebrated The Farnsworth Invention and the stage adaptation of A Few Good Men.
Scott Rudin (Executive Producer)
In additon to the countless award-winning films Rudin boasts on his CV, he is also responsible for bringing some of the most celebrated theatrical productions of all time into the community including Lapine's Passion, the revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The Goat or Who Is Sylvia?, Seven Guitars, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, Copenhagen, Deuce, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The History Boys, Beckett/Albee, Closer, The Blue Room, Doubt, the revivals of Fences and The Death of a Salesman, One Man, Twi Guvnors and The Book of Mormon among many others. He is the among the rare club of Tony, Oscar, Emmy and Grammy winners.
Click below for show highlights and tune in to support Broadway in THE NEWSROOM on Sunday at 10pm!
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