Forest Whitaker-Led Hughie Pushes Back First Preview Date on Broadway

We're going to have to wait a little longer for Forest Whitaker to make his Broadway debut opposite Frank Wood in Hughie. Directed by Michael Grandage, the production will now begin previews on February 8; it had previously been set to kick off on February 5. Opening night for the Eugene O’Neill’s classic remains on February 25 at the Booth Theatre.

Hughie is set in the lobby of a small midtown hotel on the West Side of Manhattan. Whitaker plays Erie Smith, a drunken, small time hustler who is mourning the recent death of the hotel’s night clerk, Hughie. Erie regales the new night clerk (Wood) with tall-tales of his glory days and times spent with Hughie.

The two-hander premiered on Broadway in 1964 with Jason Robards in the role of “Erie” Smith; it was last seen on the Great White Way in 1996 in a production directed by and starring Al Pacino.