Blythe Danner, Larry Bryggman Set for Reading of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

The producers of a new stage adaptation of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner have announced the cast of a "private, invitation-only reading" to be held on November 14. Kenny Leon had previously been named director of the play, which has been adapted by Todd Kreidler from the original Oscar-winning screenplay by William Rose. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is aiming for Broadway in fall 2008.

The cast of the reading, which "will take place at an undisclosed location in Manhattan," according to a news release, will feature Tony Award winner Blythe Danner Suddenly Last Summer, Follies, Butterflies Are Free, Huff, Will & Grace, Meet the Parents as Christina Drayton, the role originated in the 1967 film by the late Katharine Hepburn; Tony Award nominee Larry Bryggman Proof, Picnic, Twelve Angry Men as Matt Drayton, the role originated by the late Spencer Tracy; British stage and film star David Oyelowo The Last King of Scotland, title role in the RSC production of Henry IV as Dr. John Prentice, the role originated by Sidney Poitier; and Gillian Jacobs A Feminine Ending at Playwrights Horizons as Joanna "Joey" Drayton, the role originated by Katharine Houghton.

The reading will also feature Tony Award winner James Naughton Chicago, City of Angels, Democracy as Monsignor Ryan; Tony Award winner Leslie Uggams Hallelujah Baby!, On Golden Pond, Roots as Mary Prentice; Bill Nunn A Raisin in the Sun, Robbie in the Spider Man films as John Prentice, Sr.; Lynda Gravátt King Hedley II, Miss Witherspoon, The Old Settler as Matilda "Tillie" Binks; and Leslie Hendrix Hollywood Arms, Indiscretions, Law & Order as Hilary St. George. None of these actors is committed to appear in a future Broadway run of the show.

In Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Joey Drayton brings her fiancé, Dr. John Prentice, home to sunny San Francisco to meet her affluent parents after a whirlwind romance. The parents' liberal persuasions are put to the test when they find out that their daughter's fiancé, while an ideal choice—a handsome, wealthy, brilliant, internationally reknowned doctor from a respectable family —is African-American.