Robin Williams to Roar on Broadway in Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

Oscar winner Robin Williams is prepping to make his dramatic Broadway debut in spring 2011 in the wartime play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, a source close to the production confirms to Broadway.com. Williams would play the tiger of the title in the darkly comedic Rajiv Joseph drama, which was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo has previously played in the Los Angeles area at the Kirk Douglas Theater in 2009, before moving earlier this year to the larger Mark Taper Forum. According to the theater’s website, the play “throws two homesick soldiers, a tormented Iraqi and a brooding tiger together into a revelatory situation that is both hysterical and macabre, soul-wrenching and lyrical.”

Moises Kaufman (I Am My Own Wife, 33 Variations) directed both L.A. productions of the show, which featured in the cast Glenn Davis, Brad Fleischer, Arian Moayed, Kevin Tighe, Hrach Titizian, Sheila Vand and Necar Zadegan.

From his start as a stand-up comedian in the 1970s, Williams has created an incredibly diverse career as a comedic and dramatic actor. He won the Academy Award in 1998 for Good Will Hunting, having previously been nominated for three other films: Good Morning, Vietnam, Dead Poets Society and The Fisher King. Other notable credits include Mork & Mindy, The World According to Garp, Moscow on the Hudson, Awakenings, Hook, Aladdin, Toys, Mrs. Doubtfire, Jumanji, The Birdcage, Hamlet, Deconstructing Harry, Patch Adams, Artificial Intelligence: AI, One Hour Photo, Insomnia and Night at the Museum. Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo would mark the first dramatic stage appearance for Williams since he played Estragon in a starry production of Waiting for Godot at Lincoln Center in 1998. He previously appeared on Broadway in a stand-up engagement at the Broadway Theatre in 2002.

For more on Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, check out the video feature below from the Mark Taper Forum.