Oscar winner and twice Tony Award winner Kevin Kline is due to return to the Broadway stage next year. Kline will star as Garry Essendine in the classic Noel Coward comedy, Present Laughter. The opening of this comedy is due to be on 5th April 2017 at the St. James Theatre.
Moritz von Stuelpnagel will direct the play, which is a sex farce about a self-obsessed celebrity. Of course, the production includes a mid-life crisis, wine, women and sleeping late. But of course, there are unexpected twists to come. Jordan Roth will produce. Further cast announcements are yet to be made.
Mr. von Stuelpnagel released the following statement:
“In our fame and social media-obsessed age, it feels especially apropos to do a sex farce about being a celebrity. We all curate a kind of facade, a public face, but when the laughs and the parties end, I think we’re left with something darker and deeply human: ourselves, private, true. Present Laughter is bitingly witty, full of glamour and vivid personalities, but beneath that, there’s something striking to me about the comedian stripped down to his most personal self, in this, Coward’s most personal play.”
Present Laughter original appeared on Broadway in 1946 with Clifton Webb playing the leading part. As with all good classics, there have been a number of revivals, and since then it has been revived in 1958 with the play’s writer, Noel Coward, starring; later in 1982 when it starred George C Scott; Frank Langella starred in the 1996 revival; the most recent production was at the American Airlines Theatre in 2010 which starred Victor Garber.
Kevin Kline’s previous stage achievements include winning Tony Awards for performances in The Pirates of Penzance and On The Twentieth Century. His other Broadway appearances include Ivanov, Loose Ends, The Three Sisters, Edward II, Measure for Measure and The Beggars Opera. For his film appearances he was presented with an Oscar for his performance in A Fish Called Wanda and has received several Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations.