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As many of you know FARRAGUT NORTH by Beau Willimon was the winning play at FutureFest 2005. Since that time Mr. Willimon has been receiving great praise and admiration for his work and the play was set to open Off-Broadway this fall. Well, it appears so more developments have been announced. A Playbill.com article (text of that article can be found below) ran today stating that FARRAGUT NORTH will indeed open on BROADWAY in the middle of the 2008 Presidential election with director Mike Nichols now attached to the piece. In addition, it does appear that actor Jake Gyllenhaal will make his Broadway debut in the work.
This is a very exciting time for Mr. Willimon and I will continue to stay in contact with him to notify everyone on the progress! We at the Dayton Playhouse are very pleased to have been a part of the beginnings of FARRAGUT NORTH and are dedicated to helping Mr. Willimon in any way we can!
Thanks,
Adam J. Leigh
ARTICLE FROM PLAYBILL.COM:
Mike Nichols, the Tony-winning director of Monty Python's Spamalot, will direct a Broadway revival of The Country Girl and the Broadway bow of Farragut North, according to the New York Post.
The New York daily says that Clifford Odets' Country Girl will likely star two Academy Award winners: Morgan Freeman as the alcoholic actor Frank Elgin and Frances McDormand as Elgin 's wife Georgie. Bill Haber will produce Country Girl, which the Post says will open on Broadway in spring 2008.
The Country Girl bowed on Broadway in November 1950 at the Lyceum Theatre. The original cast featured Paul Kelly as Frank Elgin with Uta Hagen as Georgie Elgin. Hagen won a Tony Award for her performance; Boris Aronson's scenic design was also honored with a Tony.
Nichols' second Broadway project, Farragut North, had been announced as part of Second Stage's upcoming season Off-Broadway. The Post says that Beau Willimon's work will now be seen on Broadway and will open in the middle of next fall's presidential election. Nichols will direct screen star Jake Gyllenhaal, who had taken part in a previous reading of Willimon's politically themed play. Gyllenhaal, who will be making his Broadway debut, will play "a young, idealistic communications director who works for an inspiring, though unorthodox, presidential candidate. During the campaign, his career is done in by more seasoned politicos who thrive on poisonous partisan politics, dirty tricks and back-stabbing," according to a previous Post report.
Farragut North takes its name from the Washington , D.C. subway station that is situated near K Street , where several lobbyists work.
Mike Nichols received an Academy Award for Best Director for the 1968 classic "The Graduate." He was also Oscar-nominated for Best Director for his work on "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," "Silkwood" and "Working Girl." On Broadway, Nichols received Tony Awards for directing Monty Python's Spamalot, The Real Thing, The Prisoner of Second Avenue , Plaza Suite, Barefoot in the Park and Luv and The Odd Couple.
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