When The Audience starring Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II opens on Broadway in February 2015, Dylan Baker (La Bête, November, God of Carnage, "The Good Wife," "Spider-Man 2" and "Spider-Man 3") will play Prime Minister John Major, with Great White Way veteran Judith Ivey (Hurlyburly, Blithe Spirit, Follies, The Heiress) channeling his predecessor Margaret Thatcher.
Peter Morgan's play had a successful run last year with Mirren in the lead role. It posits a succession of British Prime Ministers' audiences with the Queen through the decades of her reign, from Winston Churchill to David Cameron. According to press notes, "each Prime Minister uses these private conversations as a sounding board and a confessional--sometimes intimate, sometimes explosive. In turn, the Queen can't help but reveal her own self as she advises, consoles and, on occasion, teases."
Two-time Tony Award winner and Oscar nominee Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot, "The Reader") helmed the original London production and returns for the play's Broadway premiere, a limited run that begins performances February 17, 2015, officially opens March 8 and runs through June 28.
Meanwhile back in London, Kristin Scott Thomas is preparing to take over the royal role when The Audience reappears next year, this time on the West End.
As for John Major, the former P.M. recently complained about stage plays presenting politicians in a bad light, as we just reported. May we recommend he relocate to the U.S., where theater rarely if ever causes even the slightest political blip?
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