Robert Downey Jr., who previous this presen gained an Academy Award, will form his Broadway debut q4 in “McNeal,” a untouched drama by way of the Pulitzer-winning playwright Ayad Akhtar.
The play games is ready a talented novelist with a hard community moment and a probably problematic passion in synthetic knowledge. Downey will play games the essayist.
The manufacturing is being staged by way of Lincoln Middle Theater, one among 4 nonprofits with Broadway properties, at its Vivian Beaumont Theater. Previews are to start Sept. 5, and the hole is scheduled for Sept. 30.
“McNeal” can be directed by way of Bartlett Sher, a resident director at Lincoln Middle Theater and a Tony winner for “South Pacific.”
Downey, 59, has been a prolific and greatly a hit movie actor, overcoming vital demanding situations (he had a protracted struggle with substance abuse and served age in jail on drug fees). He has constructed a occupation that has been profitable (he starred as Iron Guy in a couple of Wonder motion pictures) and acclaimed (he gained the Oscar for best possible supporting actor for a extensively praised efficiency as Lewis Strauss, a central authority reliable, in “Oppenheimer”).
His level enjoy is proscribed — his one Off Broadway credit score, “American Passion,” opened and closed at the identical generation in 1983 — and he stated in a observation, “It’s been 40 years since I was last on ‘the boards,’ but hopefully I’ll knock the dust off quick.”
Akhtar is a playwright and a novelist with an urge for food for complicated and thorny gardens whose earlier performs have explored finance and Islam. He has had a protracted dating with Lincoln Middle Theater, which first produced his Pulitzer-winning play games, “Disgraced,” on its Off Off Broadway level, and likewise introduced his performs “The Who & The What” Off Off Broadway and “Junk” on Broadway.
Akhtar could also be operating on a musical: He is among the store writers for a level adaptation of the movie “La La Land” this is now in construction.
