Jonathan Groff to Star Opposite Alfred Molina in L.A. Premiere of Red

Tony nominee Jonathan Groff (Spring Awakening) will star in the Los Angeles premiere of John Logan’s Tony-winning play Red, according to the L.A. Times. Groff will play the role of Ken, the young assistant, opposite Tony nominee Alfred Molina, who originated the role of painter Mark Rothko in London and on Broadway. Directed by Michael Grandage, the show will run at the Mark Taper Forum August 1 through September 9.

Red is set in 1958 as artist Mark Rothko (Molina) has received the art world’s largest commission to create a series of murals for The Four Seasons restaurant in the new Seagram building on Park Avenue. Under the watchful gaze of his young assistant, Ken (Groff), and the threatening presence of a new generation of artists, Rothko faces his greatest challenge yet: to create a definitive work for an extraordinary setting. Red is a theatrical account of one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century, whose struggle to accept his growing riches and praise became his ultimate undoing. In the Donmar Warehouse and Broadway productions, Groff’s role was played by Les Miserables actor Eddie Redmayne, who won a Tony Award for his performance. 

Groff received a Tony nomination for his role as Melchior Gabor in Spring Awakening. He plays the recurring character Jesse St. James on the hit FOX series Glee. His other theater credits include The Submission, Hair, The Bacchae, Prayer for My Enemy, The Singing Forest and the West End production of Deathtrap. He is set to join the cast of the Starz series Boss for its second season. 

Red opened on Broadway on April 1, 2010, after a world premiere on December 8, 2009, at the Donmar. The play won six 2010 Tony Awards, including Best Play, Best Direction of a Play and Best Featured Actor in a Play.