James Earl Jones & Cicely Tyson Will Star in D.L. Coburn’s The Gin Game on Broadway

Tony-winning legends James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson are returning to Broadway! The pair will headline a revival of D.L. Coburn’s The Gin Game. Directed by Leonard Foglia, the Pulitzer Prize-winning play will begin previews on September 21 and officially open on October 13 at the Golden Theater.

Jones received Tony Awards for Fences and The Great White Hope, and nominations for On Golden Pond and The Best Man. His other Broadway credits include the recent You Can't Take It With You, Othello, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Of Mice and Men and The Iceman Cometh. His many film roles include Clear and Present Danger, Field of Dreams and The Man.

Tyson won the 2013 Tony for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in The Trip to Bountiful and was also nominated for an Emmy Award for the 2014 television movie version. Tyson made history when she became the first African American to win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress for 1974’s TV film The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. Her 1972 film Sounder earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. On stage, Tyson has starred in shows including The Corn Is Green, Trumpets of the Lord, Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights and Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright. Recent film appearances include Alex Cross, Diary of a Mad Black Woman and The Help.

Weller Martin (Jones) and Fonsia Dorsey (Tyson) meet on the porch of their nursing home and strike up a friendship, with Weller teaching Fonsia how to play gin rummy. As they play, they share stories about the lives they led in the outside world. But when Fonsia wins every hand, Weller becomes increasingly frustrated, until their gin games and conversations become a battleground, with each player exposing the other’s failures, disappointments and insecurities.

The pair last appeared on Broadway together in A Hand Is on the Gate in 1966. And in case you were wondering, Tyson is 90, Jones is 84 and they will be doing eight shows a week!

The Gin Game returns to the Golden Theatre where the original production opened in 1977, starring Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. The play last appeared on Broadway in 1997, in a production starring Charles Durning and Julie Harris. The Gin Game has also been filmed twice for television; in 1981 with original stars Cronyn and Tandy, and in 2003 with Dick van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore.

Complete creative team will be announced later.