Broadway NewsEdward Albee’s Three Tall Women, Starring Glenda Jackson, Laurie Metcalf, and Alison Pill, Arrives on BroadwayJoe Mantello directs the Broadway premiere of the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama that begins previews March 1 at the Golden Theatre.
By
Adam Hetrick
March 01, 2018
Glenda Jackson, Laurie Metcalf, and Alison Pill
Three Tall Women, late playwright Edward Albee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiographical drama inspired by his own adoptive mother, begins Broadway previews March 1 at the Golden Theatre. Technical issues delayed the start of performances, which were scheduled to begin February 28.
The Broadway premiere stars two-time Academy Award winner Glenda Jackson (King Lear, Women in Love, A Touch of Class), Tony Award winner and Oscar nominee Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird; A Doll’s House, Part 2), and Tony Award nominee Alison Pill (The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Blackbird).
Three Tall Women follows the interactions between three women, named only A, B, and C, who represent different versions of the same woman in her 90s, 50s, and 20s.
Two-time Tony Award winnerJoe Mantello (Take Me Out, Assassins) directs the production that will officially open March 29. Three Tall Women is produced on Broadway for the first time by Scott Rudin.
Hailed as his most personal work, Albee directed the world premiere of Three Tall Women at Vienna’s English Theatre in 1991. The play received its New York premiere at the Vineyard Theatre in January 1994 under the direction of Lawrence Sacharow, with a cast featuring Myra Carter, Marian Seldes—a veteran of Albee's plays—and Jordan Baker.
Albee was awarded his third Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Three Tall Women, following A Delicate Balance in 1966 and Seascape in 1975. The play marked a resurgence in Albee’s career. Following a sold-out engagement at the Vineyard, Three Tall Women swiftly transferred to the Promenade Theatre in April 1994 for an open-ended commercial run Off-Broadway, where it ran for 582 performances.
The creative team for the Broadway production includes Miriam Buether (scenic design), Ann Roth (costume design), Mimi Jordan Sherin (lighting design), Fitz Patton (sound design), and Luc Verschueren and Campbell Young Associates (hair and makeup design).
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Remembering Edward Albee: A Look Back at Some of His Work
Remembering Edward Albee: A Look Back at Some of His Work
The American playwright was the author of over 30 plays including Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Three Tall Women, and A Delicate Balance.
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Jane Hoffman and Sudie Bond in American Dream
Nancy Cushman and Sudie Bond in American Dream
Uta Hagen, Arthur Hill, and George Grizzard in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
George Grizzard and Uta Hagen in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Colleen Dewhurst and Lou Antonio in The Ballad of the Sad Cafe
Lou Antonio and William Prince in The Ballad of the Sad Cafe
Eric Berry, John Gielgud, Irene Worth, William Hutt and John Heffernan in Tiny Alice
John Gielgud and Irene Worth in Tiny Alice
Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn in A Delicate Balance
Mary Tyler Moore and Richard Chamberlain in Breakfast at Tiffany's
Mary K. Wells, Augusta Dabney, M'el Dowd, and Beatrice Staight in Everything in the Garden
Rae Allen and Helen Page Camp in The Death of Bessie Smith
Harold Scott, Rae Allen, and John McCurry inThe Death of Bessie Smith
Edward Albee and the cast of All Over. (Front) George Voskovec, Colleen Dewhurst, Edward Albee, Jessica Tandy, and Madeline Sherwood (Back): Neil Fitzgerald, James Ray, and Betty Field
Deborah Kerr in Seascape
Deborah Kerr and Barry Nelson in Seascape
Rosemary Harris and Elaine Stritch in A Delicate Balance
Mary Beth Hurt and George Grizzard in A Delicate Balance
A new scholarship will send three young writers to the 2026 International Thespian Festival to work directly with Playbill on coverage of the week-long event.
