For the first time in 20 years, two-time Tony Award winner Glenn Close will return to Broadway in a revival of Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1966 comedy A Delicate Balance this fall. In the role of Tobias opposite Close's Agnes will be John Lithgow, last seen with Close on screen in The World According to Garp back in 1982.
Playing Agnes's alcoholic sister and permanent houseguest Claire will be Tony Award winner Lindsay Duncan (Private Lives, 2002), who coincidentally also received a Tony nomination for 1987's Dangerous Liaisons, the movie version of which featured none other than Glenn Close. The highly decorated cast will also include Martha Plimpton, Bob Balaban and three-time Olivier winner Clare Higgins.
Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy starred in the original 1966 production of A Delicate Balance. A revival 30 years later with Rosemary Harris and George Grizzard won the Tony for Best Revival of a Play. Tony Richardson's 1973 film adaptation starred Katharine Hepburn and Paul Scofield.
An intense, dark domestic comedy about marriage, madness, family and friendship among suburban empty-nesters, the play takes place entirely in one room in Agnes and Tobias's house. It revolves around the couple dealing with the arrivals of their fearful friends Harry and Edna, and their four-times-married daughter Julia.
Close, also a winner of three Emmys and two Golden Globes, told the New York Times that "Reading A Delicate Balance, I found it incredibly relevant because I think there is a cosmic fear out there, even more so now than in the 1960s. We're post-9/11. We have such fears about climate change. The world just seems like a much scarier place. I think the play will really resonate with audiences."
Whatever the climate, the revival is scheduled for an 18-week run, with previews starting Oct. 20 and an official opening Nov. 20 at the Golden Theater.
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