Dates Set for Jerusalem, Mark Rylance's Second Star Turn of the Broadway Season

Jez Butterworth’s West End hit Jerusalem will bow on Broadway with original star Mark Rylance reprising his Olivier Award-winning role as Johnny “Rooster” Byron, according to The New York Times. The limited 16-week engagement will begin performances on April 2, 2011, ahead of an April 21 opening. The play will be presented at the Music Box Theatre, where Rylance is currently starring in the Broadway revival of La Bete, set to close on January 9.

As previously reported, Rylance’s West End co-star Mackenzie Crook will again play Rooster’s friend Ginger, and Ian Rickson, who helmed the production at London's Royal Court Theatre, will again direct.

In Jerusalem, on the morning of the local county fair, Johnny "Rooster" Byron, rural degenerate and modern-day Pied Piper, is a wanted man. The council officials want to serve him an eviction notice, his children want their dad to take them to the fair, Troy Whitworth wants to give him a serious kicking and a motley crew of mates wants his ample supply of drugs and alcohol.

Jerusalem will be produced on Broadway by Royal Court Theater Productions, Sonia Friedman Productions, Scott Rudin, Stuart Thompson, Roger Berlind and Robert G. Bartner.