'A Great Broadway Binge': Talking with the Stars of The Inheritance

After much buzz following a wildly-successful London run, Matthew Lopez’s two-part play The Inheritance has finally arrived on Broadway, where it opens at the Barrymore Theatre this Sunday, November 17. Inspired by the 1910 novel Howard’s End, by famously closeted author E. M. Forster, the funny and heartfelt play centers on a group of gay New Yorkers and can be consumed in epic two-show marathon days. Broadway.com met up with Lopez and his stars to find out more recently at a press event. Here are some quotable quotes.

HOWARD'S END, BUT MORE
“It is a retelling of E.M. Foster’s Howard’s End and it’s also a kind of reclaiming of it.” - Samuel H. Levine, who plays Adam, Leo and Young Man 1

“At the heart of it is this conversation between Matthew [Lopez] and E. M. Forster about this thing that Matthew holds so dear, which is Howard’s End” - Dylan Frederick, who plays Young Walter and Young Man 4

“The show is a conversation over three generations of gay men talking through our trauma, talking through our triumphs, talking through our joys.” - Jordan Barbour, who plays Tristan and Young Man 6

“It’s about out queer ancestors and it’s about reaching to the past to understand so that way, we can move forward.” - Arturo Luis Soria, who plays Jason #2 and Young Man 8

“It’s about asking how to honor the giants that you stood literally on the shoulders of and I also think it’s about how do you live life to the nth degree.” - Andrew Burnap, who plays Toby Darling and Young Man 10

“My play really is about the question that everybody asks throughout their life—you don’t have to be a queer person, you just have to be alive to wonder where do I belong, where do I fit in? What group do I associate with? What did I receive from the people that came before me and what I am I going to leave to the people that come after me?” - Playwright Matthew Lopez

MARATHON DAY MAGIC
“I think something happens when you share six and a half hours with the same people in the same room, breathing the same air. There’s a feeling on both sides of like, ‘Buckle up. We gotta climb this mountain together.” - Kyle Soller, who plays Eric Glass and Young Man 9


“[Audiences] don’t want to leave after Part One. Let’s keep going, let’s stay on the ride. It really is like binge-watching theater. We think about binge-watching Netflix we don’t think of binge-watching Broadway. But this is a great Broadway binge.” - John Benjamin Hickey, who plays Henry Wilcox

FINAL WORD FROM THE 89-YEAR-OLD ICON OF THE CAST
“The best [plays] combine something that really touches and matters and is so funny at the same time. And this one is one of those. It’s a beauty.” - Lois Smith, who plays Margaret

Hear more from all the stars in our video feature below.