Two-time Emmy Award winner and Golden Globe Award winner Bruce Willis will makes his Broadway debut opposite three-time Emmy Award winner and two-time Tony Award nominee Laurie Metcalf in MISERY.
MISERY, written by two-time Academy Award-winner William Goldman (The Princess Bride, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) who wrote the screenplay for the Academy Award-winning film and based on the acclaimed novel by Stephen King, is directed by Will Frears (Omnium Gatherum).
Successful romance novelist Paul Sheldon (Bruce Willis) is rescued from a car crash by his "Number One Fan," Annie Wilkes (Laurie Metcalf), and wakes up captive in her secluded home. While Paul is convalescing, Annie reads the manuscript to his newest novel and becomes enraged when she discovers the author has killed off her favorite character, Misery Chastain. Annie forces Paul to write a new "Misery" novel, and he quickly realizes Annie has no intention of letting him go anywhere. The irate Annie has Paul writing as if his life depends on it, and if he does not make her deadline, it will.
The fundamental problem, alas, with the performance of Willis, the star of some of the highest-grossing action movies in Hollywood history, is that his reaction to all of those realizations, upon which the forward trajectory of this theoretically scary play depends, are wholly homogenous - to the extent, that is, that one can detect any reaction from him at all. Metcalf is, of course, an inveterate creature of the stage, and in the first few minutes of 'Misery,' which is directed by Will Frears without enough attention to those old-fashioned fundamentals, you can enjoy her fussy, annoying Annie. In those early scenes, she's a carefully wrought Metcalf creation, credibly rooted in a certain reality - you feel, as you should, like you have met this Annie on a prior occasion.
Well-adapted by William Goldman, the horror-tinged thriller 'Misery' is popcorn theater - it's a carnival ride that piles on the twists and thrills, complete with ominous thunder and lighting during particularly tense moments. It's genre theater that's gotten rare on Broadway, which is too bad: The show is shameless, and that's what makes it so fun.
2015 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Scenic Design (Play or Musical) | David Korins |
2016 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play | Laurie Metcalf |
Videos