Jessica Lange is set to revisit her 2005 Broadway turn as Amanda Wingfield in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie in the West End. The production, directed by Rupert Goold and produced by Bill Kenwright, will begin performances at the Apollo Theatre on January 31, 2007, and officially open on February 13, running through May 19. No other casting as been announced.
Lange's Broadway run in The Glass Menagerie was helmed by British director David Leveaux and produced by Kenwright. It ran for 120 performances and also featured Christian Slater, Sarah Paulson and Josh Lucas. Lange made her Broadway debut in a 1992 revival of Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. She starred in the play again in 1996, this time in the West End. She also starred in a made-for-television movie of the drama, earning a Golden Globe Award for her performance. In 2000, she returned to the West End to star in Long Day's Journey Into Night, receiving an Olivier Award nomination for her performance. An acclaimed film actress, she has garnered six Academy Award nominations and two Academy Awards one for her lead role in Blue Sky and one for her supporting turn in Tootsie.
The Glass Menagerie tells the story of a St. Louis family struggling to cope with the harsh realities of the Great Depression and the bitter memories that haunt them. Revealed in flashback, the play follows the lives of factory worker Tom Wingfield, torn between his role as the family breadwinner and the desire to lead a life of his own, his abrasive mother Amanda Lange, once a grand Southern socialite, now trying to maintain her dignity amidst the gloom of the tenement, and Tom's frail sister, Laura, who has retreated to an imaginary world caring for her collection of glass animals. As tensions mount and tempers flare, the prospect of a husband for Laura becomes their final chance for stability and escape. But the arrival of this gentleman caller could also deal a powerful blow that shatters their tenuous dreams.
The play was last seen in the West End in a production directed by Sam Mendes that transferred from the Donmar Warehouse to the Comedy Theatre in 1995. Zoe Wanamaker starred as Amanda Wingfield in that production.
