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Gray Day: Butley Revival—with Tony Winner Lane—Opens Oct. 25
By Ernio Hernandez
and Robert Simonson
25 Oct 2006
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Pamela Gray and Nathan Lane in Butley.
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| photo by Joan Marcus | Two-time Tony Award winner Nathan Lane plays a literary professor who is having a really bad day as the Broadway revival of Simon Gray's Butley officially opens at the Booth Theatre Oct. 25.
Nicholas Martin — who directed Lane in the 2003 Huntington Theatre Company run of the work — reteams with the star for the Broadway run, which began previews Oct. 5 for a run slated through Jan. 14, 2007.
Dana Ivey, Pamela Gray, Roderick Hill, Julian Ovenden, Darren Pettie and Jessica Stone also star in the production, which follows the title character who smokes and drinks his way through a day when he loses both his wife and his lover.
About the role, Lane previously told Playbill Magazine, "It's a workout. When Butley comes onstage, he's on for the duration. He runs down the hall at one point, but otherwise he never leaves the stage. It takes stamina because
it's draining, but it's exhilarating at the same time - even though it's someone spiraling out of control."
Elizabeth Ireland McCann, Stephanie P. McClelland, Eric Falkenstein, Debra Black, Chase Mishkin, Barbara Manocherian/Larry Hirschhorn, Barbara Freitag and Jeffrey Sine/Frederick Zollo produce the revival.
In addition to his Tony-winning roles in The Producers and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Nathan Lane has starred on The Great White Way in The Odd Couple, Present Laughter, Merlin, The Wind in the Willows, Some Americans Abroad, On Borrowed Time, Guys and Dolls, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Love! Valour! Compassion! and The Man Who Came to Dinner. The actor has also been featured in such films as "Addams Family Values," "Mousehunt," "Love's Labour's Lost" and "The Birdcage," scoring a Golden Globe nomination for his work in the latter. He was also seen in the film adaptations of "Nicholas Nickleby" and "The Producers."
Ivey is the Broadway and Off-Broadway veteran who starred last season at Irish Rep in Mrs. Warren's Profession. She received a Tony nomination for her recent Broadway turn in The Rivals. One of her first major New York roles was in Gray's Quartermaine's Terms.
Ovenden is the English actor who played the Baron in the Donmar Warehouse production of Grand Hotel and Franklin Shepard in Merrily We Roll Along, also at the Donmar. On television he has appeared in "Foyle's War" and "The Forsythe Saga" and the series "Related."
McMenamin appeared in BFE at Playwrights Horizons. Gray was seen on Broadway in Night Must Fall. Pettie last played in Dedication or The Stuff of Dreams. And Stone acted opposite Lane in The Odd Couple.
The design team includes Alexander Dodge (scenic), Ann Roth (costume), David Weiner (lighting), John Gromada (sound) and David Brian Brown (hair and wig).
The dark comedy premiered on Broadway Oct. 31, 1972 at the Morosco Theatre. British thespian Alan Bates, who originated the title role in the Harold Pinter-directed London production, reprised his portrayal to Tony-Award winning success. (Take a look back at the original 1972 program in Playbill.com's Playbill Archives feature).
Butley performs at the Booth Theatre, located at 222 West 45th Street.
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Nathan Lane, Dana Ivey and Julian Ovenden open in Butley.
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| photo by Joan Marcus |
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