Hugh Jackman in THE RIVER on Broadway

[jo]

Michael Riedel gives us the scoop on Hugh's next Broadway project --

nypost.com/2014/01/16/hugh-jackman-returning-to-broadway/

Hugh Jackman returning to Broadway

By Michael Riedel

January 16, 2014 | 7:21pm


.

Hugh Jackman may have vanished from “Houdini,” but he’ll be materializing on Broadway next season in “The River,” a play from London by Jez Butterworth.

Jackman, Broadway’s No. 1 box office draw, withdrew from the “Houdini” musical a couple of weeks ago due to scheduling issues. But he doesn’t like to be away from the theater for long and quickly set about looking for a show.

“The River” was produced in 2012 by the Royal Court Theater and received favorable reviews.

“Hitchcock meets Shirley Valentine,” said the Daily Mail. “Strange, eerie, tense and, on a single viewing, slightly unfathomable,” said The Guardian.

Charles Spencer, long a champion of Butterworth, wrote: “The play grips throughout its 80-minute running time. It is also beautifully written, mixing ‘memory with desire’ in T.S. Eliot’s haunting phrase from ‘The Waste Land.’ ”

Here’s the setup: A man (nameless) invites a woman (also nameless) to his cabin in the woods for the weekend. He’s a fisherman — Butterworth’s favorite hobby — and he teaches her how to fish. He also tells her he loves her. But not all is as it seems, especially when The Other Woman arrives.

If you’re thinking, “One man, two women — sounds like Harold Pinter’s ‘Old Times’ to me,” you win! The play does indeed echo Pinter’s 1971 masterpiece, and Butterworth throws in a few Gothic touches worthy of “Rebecca” for good measure.

London critics praised Ian Rickson’s production, which at the Royal Court starred Dominic West and Maria Richardson.

Rickson will direct the New York production, with the Royal Court and Sonia Friedman producing. (Friedman produced Butterworth’s acclaimed “Jerusalem” with Mark Rylance a couple of seasons ago.)
The women have yet to be cast.

“The River” marks Jackman’s return to Broadway since he shattered every box office record in sight for his sensational one-man show at the Broadhurst.

Is there anything this guy can’t do?

Two years ago, he was singing and dancing up a storm, shaking his maracas in Peter Allen fashion, sending the ladies in the house into a frenzy.

And next season, he’ll be playing a reclusive man with a passion for trout fishing and, perhaps, other, more disturbing hobbies.

But whatever the form — musical, one-man show, drama — one thing is certain: With Jackman’s name above the title, it’s going to be standing room only.

Look for “The River” to open in early 2015. I bet the Shuberts are already re-arranging booking to find Jackman a prime house.

He is going to be back on stage


This sounds like excellent dramatic material for him -- it looks like he is using both film and theatre for dark material?

Early 2015 means that he is likely going on previews in mid-spring



smiley-happy036 When will they start selling tickets ??

Jo

[jo]

Not so long ago -- he mentioned that there was a project that seems promising which he could not make any mention of at that time. Is this the project? I think we have speculated that he might be interested in a straight play next. I guess another musical project might have to wait ( unless Houdini is ready by 2017 - LOL!)

I wonder who will be cast as the two women -- for plays, I think I would like to see a good dramatic actress like Rachel Weisz? Maybe even Anne Hathaway ( if one of the women is not middle-aged)? Although of course, not having read the play, they might call for a different kind of female persona?

Jo

[jo]

This review of the play by THE GUARDIAN during its first run in London also includes a good summary of the play and how it is devised. I did not realize that the same playwright also wrote the well-received JERUSALEM.

www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/oct/27/the-river-jez-butterworth-review

Stage


Jez Butterworth


The River – review

Royal Court, London

4 out of 5 stars

Email

Michael Billington

Michael Billington


The Guardian, Saturday 27 October 2012

Jump to comments (29)


I spy a danger for the theatre in a new form of chic exclusivity. Because everyone wants to see Jez Butterworth's first new play since Jerusalem and because space is limited at the Theatre Upstairs, tickets are hard to come by. You either have to go online or queue at the box office first thing. Although that may preclude potential customers, Butterworth's play undeniably gains from intimacy. At 80 minutes, it is strange, eerie, tense and, on a single viewing, slightly unfathomable.



At first, all looks reasonably clear. As in previous Butterworth plays such as The Night Heron and The Winterling, the setting is rurally remote. We are in a wooden cabin on the cliffs above a river. It belongs to The Man (Dominic West) who is playing host to The Woman (Miranda Raison). The West figure is a dedicated fisherman who goes into ecstasies about sea trout, which can be caught in profusion on a moonless night once a year. This is just such a night and the capacity to share his excitement becomes a moral test for Raison's character, who appears to be his new girlfriend.

So far, so explicable. But the second scene starts with West making a panic-stricken phone call to the police about a woman who has gone missing during a nocturnal fishing expedition. At which point the door bangs, to West's relief the call is aborted and in walks not the expected guest but The Other Woman (Laura Donnelly). She angers West by revealing she has broken the rules by catching a sea trout with the aid of a young poacher who has attached a pickled onion flavour Monster Munch to the rod. Unlike the more spiritual Woman, this character is friskily down to earth and the scene ends with West gutting the trout in readiness for supper.

If I give away this much plot, and there is plenty more to come, it is to try to pin down what Butterworth is writing about. Since the two women exchange places scene by scene, and there are strong hints they are part of a long line, it appears we are watching some annual ritual. West's character is a reclusive loner who invites each new woman to share his passion for trout fishing, declares his love for them but, inevitably disappointed, seeks to memorialise them through a drawing. Far from being a hymn to nature, the play is about the rooted solitude of a man who has subordinated his love for people to the more arcane pursuit of sea trout.

"Death," Turgenev wrote, "is like a fisherman" who nets a fish, watches it swimming about and snatches it out in his own good time. And Butterworth is writing about a man who invests all his emotions in that godlike activity. But the fascination of his play is that it leaves one unsure whether one is watching a ghost story, gothic thriller or parable. My only cavil is that Butterworth sometimes lapses into passages of "fine writing". At one point The Man has a long speech about catching his first fish in which lines such as "just then a big chapel of cloud pushed overhead" have a self-consciously literary quality.

But the play kept me on tenterhooks and Ian Rickson's production is finely calibrated. The acting is also impeccable. West proves not only expert at gutting fish but also has an air of rugged masculinity that conceals a profound sadness, insecurity and sense of loss. The two women are also perfectly contrasted. Raison has the sharp, probing intensity that befits a character who brings To the Lighthouse with her on a fishing holiday, while Donnelly is more skittish, flirty and lighter in texture.

This is not, in the end, as resonant and public a play as Jerusalem. But it adopts a similarly equivocal attitude to its hero, is endlessly mysterious and confirms that Butterworth possesses a singular talent. I only wish that more people could get in to see it.

• This article was amended on 30 October 2012 to correct a description of the bait used to catch a trout. It was not a pickled onion, but a pickled onion flavour Monster Munch.

This looks very promising. I am glad that Hugh is looking at plays ( for stage exposition) for excellent dramatic material. The intimacy of the theatre for material like this can be more encompassing and more riveting to an audience, compared to any dramatic movie.


Jo

[jo]

Here's a BBC summary of the reviews of THE RIVER --

29 October 2012 Last updated at 11:52 GMT Share this pageEmail Print Share this page

Jez Butterworth play The River wows at the Royal CourtMiranda Raison and Dominic West, photo by John Haynes Miranda Raison's TV credits include Spooks and Merlin Continue reading the main story

The River, Jez Butterworth's hotly anticipated follow-up to the smash hit play Jerusalem, has received rave reviews in the British press.


The Guardian's Michael Billington wrote the play, at London's Royal Court, "confirms that Butterworth possesses a singular talent".

But he added: "I only wish that more people could get to see it."

No seats are sold in advance with a daily allocation online and the rest available in person at the box office.

Billington wrote: "I spy a danger for the theatre in a new form of chic exclusivity."

He added: "At 80 minutes, it is strange, eerie, tense and, on a single viewing, slightly unfathomable. This is not, in the end, as resonant and public a play as Jerusalem. But it adopts a similarly equivocal attitude to its hero."



Charles Spencer, writing in The Telegraph, praised Butterworth's writing and also the play's direction.

"In Ian Rickson's expertly judged production the play grips throughout its 80 minute running time. It is also beautifully written 'mixing memory with desire' in TS Eliot's haunting phrase from The Waste Land."

He also hailed the performers, Dominic West, Miranda Raison and Laura Donnelly.

"West suggests darker depths beneath the central character's apparently innocent, love-struck enthusiasm, and makes Butterworth's thrilling nature writing really sing. And there are two neatly defined and contrasting performances from Miranda Raison and Laura Donnelly as the two women."



The Independent critic Paul Taylor also lauded Rickson's direction.

"So the first thing I should say, having now seen Ian Rickson's spellbinding, exquisitely modulated production, is that getting into The River is well worth any additional hassle you may have to go through with the booking.

"Lyrical and tricksy, occasionally droll and ultimately desolating, this intimate three-hander unfolds like a tantalising cross between a piece of deeply felt poetry and a sleight-of-hand puzzle."



The Times theatre critic Libby Purves referred to Pinter's influence on Butterworth in her critique.

"Butterworth's debt to Pinter is apparent in the building unease, the questions answered with long statements and stories, the sense of psychological trap around West and two women who almost become one.

"But there is no Pinteresque bullying and rage: wonder and beauty suffuse it even as it darkens, at a pace almost musical under Ian Rickson's direction."



The Arts Desk's Matt Wolf also compared Butterworth with Pinter.

"Here's a puzzle play, alluring and unsettling in turn, that puts one in mind of a roll call of writers (Harold Pinter among them) in different ways while marking Butterworth out anew as the most singular voice in town.

"Eyes brimming over with an equal awareness of love and loss, West cuts a figure of unforced, casual masculinity as integral to this occasion as was Mark Rylance's outsized swagger to the posturing roustabout, Johnny Byron; it's a remarkable portrayal, not least for the way it finds something desolate in deception that ups the emotional stakes."



The Daily Mail's Quentin Letts gave The River five stars, comparing Butterworth to the late poet Ted Hughes.

"Mr Butterworth, apart from a horrid reference to 'Christian era' when he means AD, writes beautifully.

"He describes the muddy impulses of the river fish almost as poetically as Ted Hughes, whose verse we hear at one point. Yet there are also the urges, the instincts (not least for survival) of young women...

"On stage Mr West is brilliantly liquid. I wish he would not pronounce 'lure' in an American manner but otherwise his performance is faultless. The women are strongly acted too."

[carouselkathy]

Not a surprising choice, considering HOUDINI hasn't worked out. A play with an 80 minute running time is challenging, yet less stressful. He gets to be at home with family in New York, and may have more time to consider other roles, both film and stage.

[broadwaygal]

Wow, Jo! You got the scoop so fast! LOL! I just read Riedel's column! This is great news, although I was
still hoping for a musical. But this looks very intriguing. Yesss!!

Cheryl

[jo]

And from a tweet --

Sean Doherty ‏@theruraljuror_ · 5m
The River is going to Broadway with Hugh Jackman. Saw it at @royalcourt last year...New York better get ready. It's stunning.

[mamaleh]

Intriguing, exciting news. I was a big fan of Butterworth's Mark Rylance vehicle, JERUSALEM. I hope the role of the man is of the tour-de-force variety, as was Rylance's role.

Ellen

[ptflynn]

Excellent news. Must save pennies for trip(s) to NYC.


Fern aka Professional Lurker

[jo]

Jan 17, 2014 0:43:39 GMT -5 mamaleh said:

Intriguing, exciting news. I was a big fan of Butterworth's Mark Rylance vehicle, JERUSALEM. I hope the role of the man is of the tour-de-force variety, as was Rylance's role.

Ellen

I have just been reading up on British plays ( Jez Butterworth and his inspiration Harold Pinter) -- my knowledge is woefully deficient on this side of the theatre. This sounds like a very important step in Hugh's acting career because every night, he has to rise to the challenge of getting the audience deeply involved in the drama. I know JERUSALEM was very popular ( and even audience-friendly) although I never had the chance to see it...but THE RIVER sounds like something that needs more active or even provocative audience response. Hugh is getting into serious territory, acting-wise. I think this is even more challenging than accepting an Oscar-bait role ( which sometimes deplorably is mere mimicry for biopics, or physical transformation/costuming for others, or a bit of hysteria in other performances)... and he will be alone on that stage without a director calling CUT if things go wrong. This is the type of performance which proves the adage that the stage is the actor's medium...It can also be a risky challenge because Hugh, while I am confident of his ability, will be tackling a role that is not the usual theatre fare. On an aside, I am glad that the director will be the same one who has worked a lot with Butterworth and has directed the original London staging of The River. Sometimes I forget that Hugh is also part-British.


But I am excited...and I believe that Hugh is trying to maintain a very good balance between popular entertainment and serious dramatic projects for his career trajectory.

Jo

[jo]

All we need now is Hugh actually confirming this in an interview or maybe a press release

But it must be buzzing around Broadway now, hence the scoop by Chief Snoop Michael Riedel ( who seems to be acting as PR for friend Hugh - LOL!). I wonder which stagedoor will be the busiest when Hugh returns to Broadway.

If the play goes to a Shubert theatre, as MR speculates, here is a list of their theatres on Broadway --

www.shubertorganization.com/theatres/default.asp

As the play seems like a more intimate one, maybe a relatively small theatre like the Schoenfeld ( although Bridges of Madison County is supposed to open there) might be considered?? Btw, this was the play that was staged at a very tiny theatre (the Upstairs theatre at the Royal Court, which seated less than a hundred) in London. The playwright received offers for many larger venues but because he thought the material called for intimacy between stage and audience, he would only consider the Royal Court venue. I wonder how they will resolve that on Broadway. Also, in London, no tickets were sold in advance -- only on the day of the performance. Can't do both ( tiny venue and no advance ticket sales) with a Hugh Jackman starrer - LOL...Will they have to consider a different kind of staging to suit the material to a larger stage and audience?...Hmmm.

On another note, I wonder how far off Hugh is from getting the movie musical GREATEST SHOWMAN ON EARTH greenlit? If he is able to film that this year, that will satisfy those who would like to see him again in a musical.


Jo

[mamaleh]

Jo, he has so confirmed in a tweet. So it's official.

Ellen

[jo]

Thanks, Ellen

Here we go --

Hugh Jackman ‏@realhughjackman 2h
What you read in the NY Post is true. Not sure exactly when, but I'm really excited. A great team for…

http://instagram.com/p/jRRY3IihEN

thehughjackman
2 hours ago
What you read in the NY Post is true. Not sure exactly when, but I'm really excited. A great team for The River... Can't wait to tread the boards again!!! #TheRiver #thegreatwhiteway

Hope it really is Broadway-bound in the spring of 2015!

Jo

[jo]

In case anyone is interested, the play is available on Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle edition.

Jo

[alma]

HEAR YE!! HEAR YE!!

Jo wrote:

I think this is even more challenging than accepting an Oscar-bait role ( which sometimes deplorably is mere mimicry for biopics, or physical transformation/costuming for others, or a bit of hysteria in other performances)...



Alma

[foxie]

They announced it on the Mark Simonehow today amazingly my husband announced it to me and he said Mark really loves Hugh he was going on and on and said he is the best actor and performer around!

[jo]

There is official confirmation that the show will premiere on Broadway during the 2014-2015 season --

www.usatoday.com/story/life/theater/2014/01/17/hugh-jackman-headed-back-to-broadway/4585713/

A spokesperson for the production said that the play, which was staged in London by the Royal Court Theatre in 2012, will premiere on Broadway in the 2014-15 season, with Sonia Friedman Productions and the Royal Court co-producing.

Based on the Riedel scoop, it is likely that the show will open in the spring of 2015. I wonder how long the run will be -- will Hugh be on it for the entire run, on a limited engagement basis?


The Royal Court is considered one the pillars of British theatre for its role in developing modern drama. Hugh must be very proud to be associated with it, just as he took pride in being part of a production by another prominent theatre company ( the Royal National Theatre, for Oklahoma!)...and he was also in the film adaptation of a joint production of the other royal theatre company ( Royal Shakespeare Company, which was an original producer of Les Miserables).

Here's an account of the history of the Royal Court Theatre and its role in British modern drama.

www.royalcourttheatre.com/about-us/history/

The man who will direct the Broadway production ( and also directed the original London staging) of The River, Ian Rickson, was once Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre.

Jo

[jo]

People are curious about the material --

*Some people are wondering if is a musical ( must be the association with Hugh's musical chops)?

*Some are wondering if it is going to be family-friendly?...Hmm -- probably not, but if you insist on taking along a fanboy who loves Wolverine, I think Broadway houses usually allow anyone older than 4

*This is the intriguing comment from the Riedel scoop --

The play does indeed echo Pinter’s 1971 masterpiece, and Butterworth throws in a few Gothic touches worthy of “Rebecca” for good measure.

...Gothic ?? Aha!

*And from the Guardian review --

...it is strange, eerie, tense and, on a single viewing, slightly unfathomable

Great excuse to see the show at least twice


*Finally, it is going to be a relatively short play (80 minutes in its original run, although it may be somewhat revised for Broadway) - maybe the intensity is just right for the timeframe?


I am waiting anxiously for my copy of the script


Jo

[foxie]

I got it on my kindle but haven't read it yet

[ADMIN]

If you would like to read the script ONLINE for free...

click here

[jo]

Having just read the script for the first time, I can understand the reviews much more.

Will look for other stuff on the play and its reception in London.

Here's a reaction from a poster on WHATSONSTAGE.com ( arguably the top message board in London) --

Really magical show. There is nobody else that I've encountered who is currently writing such fantastic plays that manage to touch on so many more subjects than they are ostensibly about. Lots of excellent gentle misdirection in the plotting, funny lines, ponderous monologues full of wonderful poetry. Butterworth has a knack of creating a real world where highly theatrical and poetic turns of phrase seem natural in his characters' mouths; "the water was gin-clear". For me his genius is creating an atmosphere where we come out questioning not whether his characters and his world are real but rather whether what they were telling each other was true within the real world that we take as given that they inhabit.

Acting is first rate all round, and it's wonderful to see such a small, quiet, darkly lit and subtly acted show in such an intimate environment. As has been said, don't go expecting the brash colourful noise of Jerusalem. Perhaps this won't have the same broad appeal as it lacks Johnny Rooster Byron (Dom West is brilliant but it's not quite the same transformation that Rylance went through to play that role) but this is a really wonderful night of theatre. The full 5 stars from me.

How will Broadway audiences react to it?



Jo

[jo]

The Arts Beat of the NYTimes also reported the forthcoming return of Hugh Jackman on Broadway.

artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/17/hugh-jackman-returning-to-broadway-in-the-river/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_php=true&_type=blogs&_php=true&_type=blogs&module=BlogPost-ReadMore&version=Blog%20Main&action=Click&contentCollection=Arts&pgtype=Blogs®ion=Body&_r=2&

But what caught my attention are two comments from one particular reader.

Freddie
New York, NY 5 days ago
With Denzel and Diahann costing $480 this season, isn't it likely that $500-per-ticket mark will finally be passed by Hugh for this show?

Could happen <shudder>

Freddie
New York, NY 5 days ago
It's sure to be a circus at the stage door, but hopefully no swooning and fainting during the play.




tune of Hugh's rendition of QUIET PLEASE THERE'S A LADY ONSTAGE


Quiet please, that’s Hugh Jackman onstage
These seats cost like a full week’s wage
And he's acting, and we feel it
And he deserves your full attention.

Quiet please, that's an actor up there,
Stop ooh-ing and ahh-ing over his perfect hair
We’re here because the critics raved
Isn’t it time you all behaved

Yes pull yourself together, show him his due
He is playing a role, he is not playing Hugh
He won’t be undressing
I’m not sure, dear, I’m just guessing

So pull yourself together, give some respect
Is that a little crush on him I seem to detect
Won’t you stop that crying
You’re not a drama fan, there’s no denying
(repeat chorus)

Haha


Jo

[mamaleh]

That's hilarious. But I do hope they don't earmark nearly all the good orchestra seats as "premium"--i.e., ludicrously overpriced. If so, I hope just as fervently that THE RIVER's venue is a house that permits standing room. (Please, no Ethel Barrymore theater!)

Ellen

[carouselkathy]

Do you think it might be a small theater since that was the the type of venue in the UK? It seems like an intimate sort of play. Of course, they may compromise and choose a medium size house because it's Hugh Jackman.....Still, I have visions of the Mitzi Newhouse in the back of my mind. That could be tough. Do they service the play with an intimate size house, or do they go for a big venue because it's Hugh Jackman and $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Just wondering.

[jo]

Look for “The River” to open in early 2015. I bet the Shuberts are already re-arranging booking to find Jackman a prime house.

I think Michael Riedel knows a bit more than he is telling. It will likely be a Shubert theatre. I posted the link to the list of Shubert theatres earlier.

www.shubertorganization.com/theatres/default.asp

The Royal Court Theatre, a national theatre, where it was shown in London had less than a hundred ( I think it was only 80 seats -- that would only allow Hugh's New York friends - LOL) seats -- but that was chosen by the playwright, even if he had been offered many larger theatres at the West End. But having shown its artistic mettle, it is likely that Jez Butterworth and the Royal Court ( one of the co-producers) would like to stage it at a larger venue and definitely and strictly ON Broadway!

I am not too sure but " Broadway" is defined by certain physical boundaries in Manhattan ( sometimes loosely defined as the theatre district), except for Lincoln Center's Beaumont, which was given the exception. Other plays are staged in theatres called Off-Broadway or Off-Off-Broadway. Only shows stage in "Broadway" houses qualify for the TONYs.


Also, based on some small-theatre productions in London of hit shows (such as HAMLET and RED, both at the 250-seater Donmar Warehouse), the transfer to Broadway is usually to medium-sized houses ( around 1000-seaters) like The Broadhurst, the Schoenfeld, the Jacobs, etc.

A Steady Rain was premiered in Chicago at a very small venue but transferred to Broadway at the Schoenfeld. It worked out fine.

Just my gut feel, but Hugh will likely want to come back to Broadway itself.

Jo