Laurie Metcalf May Headline Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound

It’s only a rumor at this point, but The Chicago Tribune is reporting that “well-placed word” has it that Steppenwolf Theatre Company member Laurie Metcalf will star as matriarch Kate Jerome in director David Cromer’s upcoming Broadway revivals of Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound. The two plays will begin rehearsals this summer and run in rep in the fall, with Brighton Beach Memoirs beginning first.

Metcalf most recently appeared on Broadway in David Mamet’s November, co-starring with Nathan Lane. She made her New York stage debut in Steppenwolf’s acclaimed production of Balm in Gilead and later appeared off-Broadway in Bodies, Rest and Motion and Educating Rita and on Broadway in My Thing of Love. Her Steppenwolf credits include Libra, My Thing of Love, Educating Rita, You Can't Take It With You, Coyote Ugly and The Glass Menagerie. The winner of three Emmy Awards for Roseanne, Metcalf has also appeared on TV's Desperate Housewives.

Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound are the first and third parts of an autobiograpical trilogy by Neil Simon that also included Biloxi Blues. Elizabeth Franz received a Tony nomination as Kate Jerome in Brighton Beach Memoirs and Linda Lavin won a Best Actress Tony in the same role in Broadway Bound.

Chicago-based director Cromer is currently playing the Stage Manager in his off-Broadway production of Our Town at the Barrow Street Theatre.