Julianne Moore has an Oscar, lots of other accolades, and awards.
I saw her on stage almost 40 years ago at the Louisville Theater festival.
Now, she’s coming back to New York theater some 20 years after appearing on Broadway in “The Vertical Hour” with Bil Nighy.
Moore will star in a new play called ‘Faydra,” written by Sarah Ruhl, at New York’s City Center.
Performances begin in February for the modern take on the classic Greek myth. Aphrodite aims her bow at Faydra and lets an arrow of love fly. Nothing is ever the same. Mostly because the object of Faydra’s sudden, all-devouring lust is her soon-to-be stepson.
Shades of “The Odyssey”! Suddenly Greek mythology is in vogue.
Manhattan Theater Club is producing the play at City Center, which is considered off Broadway.
That’s a smart choice for everyone involved. Moore will arrive will all the spring season premieres, but not be involved in the crazy run to the Tony Awards. This is an acknowledgement of the Tonys’ antipathy toward “Hollywood” stars.
More casting will be announced soon. You can bet it will be filled with “names.” MTC already has Denée Benton, Patina Miller in ‘School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play,” Lauren Ambrose in “The Unbelievers,” and Danny Burstein, Micaela Diamond, Jessica Hecht, Will Pullen, and Jeremy Shamos in “Awake and Sing!”
At the same time that Julianne takes the stage at City Center, Laura Linney will star on Broadway for them at the Samuel G. Freedman Theater in a new play by David Hare called “Montauk.”
We wouldn’t want Julianne Moore and Laura Linney in an awards race, would we? No one would survive, starting with the critics!
