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Broderick Returns to Broadway in The Philanthropist, Starting April 10
By Kenneth Jones
10 Apr 2009
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Matthew Broderick with Steven Weber and Anna Madeley with Jonathan Cake
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| photo by Aubrey Reuben | The Roundabout Theatre Company's Broadway production of Christopher Hampton's 1970 comedy, The Philanthropist, directed by Tony Award nominee David Grindley and starring Tony winner Matthew Broderick, begins previews April 10.
The new production of Hampton's response to Molière's The Misanthrope, at Roundabout's American Airlines Theatre, also features Jonathan Cake, Anna Madeley, Steven Weber, Tate Ellington, Jennifer Mudge and Samantha Soule. Opening is April 26.
This is a limited engagement through June 28.
According to Roundabout, "Written as a response to Molière's The Misanthrope, Hampton's biting bourgeois comedy examines the empty, insular lives of college intellectuals. At the center of the story is Philip (Broderick), a professor who seems almost absurdly removed from the political turmoil surrounding him, including the assassination of the Prime Minister and his cabinet."
Hampton is the Tony and Academy Award winner known for his popular adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Grindley is a Tony nominee for his direction of Journey's End. He directed Broadway's recent The American Plan (for Manhattan Theatre Club) and Roundabout's Pygmalion.
The design team includes Tim Shortall (sets), Tobin Ost (costumes), Rick Fisher (lights) and Gregory Clarke (sound).
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Broderick is a two-time Tony winner known for The Producers, How to Succeed in Business..., Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues and the film "Election," "You Can Count on Me," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," as well as Roundabout's 2004 Off-Broadway production of The Foreigner.
Roundabout's production of Hampton's Les Liaisons Dangereuses was Tony-nominated for Best Revival.
The Philanthropist premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in 1970. It opened on Broadway in 1971 and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play. The Donmar Warehouse produced a production of The Philanthropist in 2005 directed by Grindley.
Cake (who plays Braham) was seen in Lincoln Center's Cymbeline; Madeley (Celia) was in Coram Boy (Royal National Theatre), The Philanthropist, The Cosmonauts Last Message (Donmar) and more; Weber (Don) is widely known for his TV work in "Wings" and "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" and was a Leo Bloom in Broadway's The Producers; Ellington (John) starred in the film "The Elephant King" and in Dog Sees God at the SoHo Playhouse; Mudge (Araminta) appeared Off-Broadway in Stephen Belber's Fault Lines (Naked Angels) and The Geometry of Fire (Rattlestick Theater) and was nominated for a 2007 Drama Desk Award for Dutchman; Soule (Liz) appeared in Broadway's Dinner at Eight (Lincoln Center Theater), Coram Boy, Off-Broadway's The Voysey Inheritance, Valhalla and more.
Hampton's plays, musicals and translations have garnered three Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards and the New York Theatre Critics Circle Award, while prizes for his film and television work include an Oscar, two BAFTAs and a Special Jury Prize at Cannes. Plays include The Talking Cure, White Chameleon, Tales From Hollywood, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Treats, Savages, The Philanthropist and Total Eclipse. He wrote the book and lyrics (with Don Black) for the musicals Sunset Boulevard and Dracula and the libretto for the Philip Glass operas Waiting for the Barbarians and Appomattox. He has translated extensively from Chekhov, Ibsen, Moliere, Odon von Horvath and Yasmina Reza (including Art and Lifex3). His screenplays include "The Quiet American," "Mary Reilly," "Total Eclipse," "Dangerous Liaisons," "Carrington," "The Secret Agent" and "Imagining Argentina," the last three of which he also directed.
His latest screenplay was for the film "Atonement," which won both the Golden Globe and BAFTA awards for Best Picture. He's working on a new film version of John Steinbeck's "East of Eden."
Visit www.roundabouttheatre.org, call (212) 719-1300, or go to the American Airlines box office (227 West 42nd Street). Ticket prices range from $66.50 to $111.50.
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Through ACCESS Roundabout, 100 tickets will be available for the first preview performance (April 10) for only $10 each.
The Philanthropist will play Tuesday through Saturday evening at 8 PM with Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 PM.
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