B'way/Off-B'way Update: Elizabeth McGovern, Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, etc.

Elizabeth McGovern in Ava: The Secret
Conversations.
Credit: Jeff Lorch

Elizabeth McGovern (Downton Abbey, Time and the Conways) returns to the New York Stage this summer in Ava: The Secret Conversations, which she also wrote. Based on a series of interviews legendary Hollywood star Ava Gardner held with writer Peter Evans, the production previously played Los Angeles' Geffen Playhouse, and will begin previews at City Center's Stage I, July 30-Sept. 13, with an Aug. 7 opening. Aaron Costis Ganis (Blue Bloods) will play Evans. Tony nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagle (Hand to God, Present Laughter) directs. The interviews covered Gardner's storied film career which included The Killers, Show Boat, The Barefoot Contessa, Mogambo, On the Beach, and The Night of the Iguana, her marriages to Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw, and Frank Sinatra, and her relationship with Howard Hughes. (Gardner's turbulent affair with George C. Scott and her romance with bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguin are not mentioned in press materials.)

“I am beyond thrilled to bring ‘Ava: The Secret Conversations’ to New York,” McGovern said in a statement. “Gardner’s life was one of incredible complexity, and I feel so privileged to step into her world and share her story onstage at New York City Center this summer.”  McGovern will also be seen on screen this fall in Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, the final installment in the TV and film franchise.

Jackman and Schreiber Go Audible: Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber will headline two plays in repertory Off-Broadway from Audible and Together, the production company headed by Jackman and

Ella Beatty, Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber,
Maggie Siff, and Justice Smith.

Tony and Oliver-winning producer Sonia Friedman. Jackman and Ella Beatty (Ghosts) will star in Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes by Hannah Moscovitch (April 28--June 18) and Schreiber, Maggie Siff, and Justice Smith will co-star in Jen Silverman (The Roommate)'s adaptation of August Strindberg's Creditors (May 10--June 18). Both works will be directed by Ian Rickson and play the Minetta Lane Theater. Misconduct will feature Jackman as a novelist who becomes involved with a promising student (Beatty). Creditors (1888) is about a mysterious triangle at a seaside resort and was last seen in NYC at BAM in 2010 in a production directed by Alan Rickman.

Audible and Together will work with TDF to offer free tickets to 25% of the house at every performance to a range of community members who often experience barriers to attending theater such as seniors and students. In additions, 25% of tickets to every performance will be made available at $35 through a digital lottery and at the box office. Both plays will be recorded by Audible and made available at a later date.

Theatre Memories Part 11: Shakespeare, The Tragedies

The photo is from my collection of Hamlet playbills: I did not see Richard Burton or Albert Finney (Middle row); but I did see Kevin Kline (twice, both at the Public), Jude Law, Ralph Fiennes (on Broadway), Stephen Lang (Roundabout), Peter Sarsgaard (CSC), Michael Stuhlbarg (Delacorte), John Glover (Philadelphia Drama Guild at the Walnut Street Theatre), Peter Stormare (brilliant production directed by Ingmar Bergman at BAM), Tom O'Neill (at Villanova University, performed in rep with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead), Brian Hugh O'Neill (performed in the 79th Street Riverside Park Boat Basin), Toby Stephens (Maggie Smith's son in London).

Other Shakespeare tragedies seen (I am leaving out TV and film versions, because there are too many):

Macbeth: Patrick Stewart (BAM/Broadway), Alan Cumming (in an almost solo version on Broadway), Christopher Plummer/Glenda Jackson, Ethan Hawke, Liev Schrieber, Kelsey Grammer (pretty terrible production), John Douglas Thompson, Corey Stoller, Alec Baldwin/Angela Bassett, Raul Julia, Kenneth Branagh/Alex Kingston at the Park Avenue Armory.

King Lear: Glenda Jackson, Derek Jacobi (my favorite), Kevin Kline, Frank Langella, John Lithgow, Hal Holbrook, F. Murray Abraham, Sam Waterston, Ian McKellen (BAM, Sylvester McCoy, Doctor Who no. 7 was the Fool), Christopher Plummer, Brian Cox (in London in rep with Richard III, Ian McKellen was the Duke of Kent and alternated as Richard III, Cox played Buckingham in Richard).