Conor McPherson's Shining City Looks to Fall on Broadway
Set in Dublin, Shining City tells the story of a man who comes to a counselor seeking help. He claims to have seen the ghost of his recently deceased wife. But what begins as an unusual encounter becomes a desperate struggle between the living and the dead--a struggle which will shape and define both men for the rest of their lives.
The show ran last year at the Gate Theatre in Dublin and London's Royal Court. Those mountings starred Kathy Kiera Clarke, Michael McElhatton, Jeannie Lewis, Tom Jordan Murphy and Stanley Townsend. Charles Spencer of The Telegraph wrote of the play during its Royal Court engagement: "Shining City is right up there with The Weir, moving, compassionate, ingenious and absolutely gripping. There were many passages at last night's premiere when the quality of silence in the theatre was as rapt and attentive as any I have experience. But there are also scenes that provoke great, generous gales of laughter, others that send a shiver of fear down the spine."
Barry and Fran Weissler, the husband-and-wife producing team known mostly for their productions of musicals including current revivals of Chicago and Wonderful Town and the upcoming Sweet Charity, plan on presenting Shining City on Broadway. The last straight play they produced on Broadway was the short-lived 1995 drama My Thing Of Love.