Forest Whitaker & Frank Wood Start Previews in Eugene O’Neill’s Hughie on Broadway

The Broadway debut of the season? Forest Whitaker will begin performances opposite Frank Wood in Hughie on February 8. Directed by Michael Grandage, Eugene O’Neill’s classic is scheduled to officially open on February 25 at the Booth Theatre.

Hughie is set in the lobby of a small midtown hotel on the West Side of Manhattan. Whitaker plays Erie Smith, a drunken, small time hustler who is mourning the recent death of the hotel’s night clerk, Hughie. Erie regales the new night clerk (Wood) with tall-tales of his glory days and times spent with Hughie.

The two-hander premiered on Broadway in 1964 with Jason Robards in the role of “Erie” Smith; it was last seen on the Great White Way in 1996 in a production directed by and starring Al Pacino.

The limited engagement will run through June 12.