McKinley Belcher III will star as Happy Loman in Broadway's upcoming revival of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, a transfer of a 2019 West End production. The production will have a limited run beginning September 19 at the Hudson Theatre.
The Miranda Cromwell-helmed revival has also announced new creative team members, including Olivier winner and Tony-nominated scenic and co-costume designer Anna Fleischle, co-costume designer Sarita Fellows, Tony-nominated lighting designer Jen Schriever, Tony-nominated sound designer Mikaal Sulaiman, composer Femi Temowo, Drama Desk-nominated hair designer Nikiya Mathis, and music coordinator John Miller.
Belcher joins the previously announced cast, which will also feature Tony-nominated Caroline, Or Change star Sharon D Clarke reprising her Olivier-winning performance as Linda Loman and Wendell Pierce reprising his Olivier-nominated Willy Loman, along with Hadestown Tony winner André De Shields as Ben and Khris Davis (Sweat) as Biff. Casting is by Erica A. Hart and Daniel Swee.
“Looking at Death of a Salesman from the perspective of a Black family living in a predominantly White capitalist world changes the way that you hear this text,” said Cromwell in an earlier statement. “Wendell and Sharon illuminate the heart of this play in a new way that is both universal and entirely specific.”
Cromwell co-directed the West End run with Marianne Elliott, currently represented on Broadway with Company. The pair jointly won an Olivier Award for their work on this Salesman in 2020. Elliott remains a producer on the revival through her production company Elliott & Harper Productions, which will co-produce with Cindy Tolan and Kwame Kwei-Armah. Further casting and creative team are to be announced.
“I have always been fascinated by the Loman family’s wrestle with assimilation, and the cost of that struggle on one’s mental health, on your family and on your community,” added Kwei-Armah. “This production breathes new life into a show that people think they know.”
The work was last seen on Broadway in a 2012 revival starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Linda Emond, Andrew Garfield, Finn Wittrock, and John Glover.
