George Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House, ranks as a comic masterpiece, and its portrait of an English family sitting idle on the brink of World War I makes the play as timely to modern audiences as it is entertaining. On one level, Heartbreak House follows the unlikely romantic encounters that occur on an estate in the English countryside presided over by an elderly patriarch, Captain Shotover (Philip Bosco). But the underlying theme of this Chekhovian comedy is the coming of the war and the family's obliviousness to what's ahead.
The Roundabout Theatre Company has attracted a blue-chip cast: Shaw veteran Philip Bosco as the Captain; Swoosie Kurtz and Laila Robins as his daughters, Hesione Hushabye and Lady Utterword; Byron Jennings as Hesione's philandering husband, Hector; and Lily Rabe as Hesione's young friend Ellie Dunn. Don't miss this rare opportunity to experience one of Shaw's finest and most thought-provoking works.