Danny DeVito and Lucy DeVito Set for Theresa Rebeck’s I Need That with Roundabout; New Season Announced

Tony Award-nominated and Emmy-winning actor Danny DeVito will return to Broadway as part of Roundabout Theatre Company’s 2023-2024 season. Danny DeVito will appear alongside his real-life daughter, Lucy DeVito, in I Need That, a new comedy by Pulitzer Prize finalist playwright Theresa Rebeck.

Tony nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagel will direct the play, which is set to open at the American Airlines Theatre in October. In addition to Danny DeVito and Lucy DeVito, the cast will include Ray Anthony Thomas. 

The play follows the reclusive Sam (Danny DeVito), who prefers the safety of his house and the company of his many, many things. Soon, a notice from the government arrives alerting Sam that he must clean up his property or face eviction.

I Need That will mark Danny DeVito’s second Broadway credit. He made his Main Stem debut in Roundabout’s 2017 revival of The Price (also at the American Airlines), a performance which earned him a Tony nomination. He won an Emmy for his turn on the television series Taxi and earned an Oscar nomination as a producer on Erin Brockovich.

Lucy DeVito, who has been seen off-Broadway in Hot Mess and The Shoemaker, will make her Broadway debut in I Need That. Ray Anthony Thomas’ Main Stem credits include American Buffalo, Trouble in Mind and Jitney.

Playwright Rebeck, a Pulitzer finalist for Omnium Gatherum, has been represented on Broadway with the plays Bernhardt/Hamlet, Dead Accounts, Seminar and Mauritius. She is also known in theater circles as the creator of the television series Smash; Rebeck earned a pair of Emmy nominations for writing episodes of NYPD Blue.

Also newly announced for Roundabout’s new Broadway season is a spring 2024 revival of Samm-Art Williams’ 1980 Tony-nominated play Home. Tony winner Kenny Leon will direct the production, which will also be mounted at the American Airlines Theatre. The play follows a man named Cephus Miles, whose sweetheart, Pattie Mae, goes off to college and marries another man. 

In addition to Home, Williams has been represented on Broadway with the 1975 play The First Breeze of Summer. He has been twice Emmy-nominated as a writer on the variety program Motown Returns to the Apollo and as a producer of the comedy series Frank’s Place.

In addition to I Need That and Home, Roundabout will be announcing one additional Broadway production at a later date. Further casting, creative teams and exact dates for all productions will also be announced.

Roundabout’s 2023-2024 season announcement additionally includes off-Broadway productions of The Refuge Plays by Nathan Alan Davis, Covenant by York Walker and Jonah by Rachel Bonds.