Glenda Jackson to play King Lear on Broadway

Well, this is a big deal and Scott Rudin is continuing his Hollywoodization of Broadway - I hope he kind of gets that he is screwing Denzel Washington of a Lear Broadway (already discussed) run for maybe the next 4-5 years but whatever - he'll just be more age appropriate but .........maybe his great roles things has taken a new direction with something in between.

A couple points :

Knowing what we know about the NYC theater community they may just give her the Tony now - actually seeing the shows always complicates things for them .

I would not be surprised if Billie Piper in Yerma who beat Jackson (in Lear) for the Olivier also comes to Broadway later this year - for now it's off-Broadway but ........we'll see.

It is going to be a historic run when she does it, I mean even more than why Rylance plays females (lol).......and the Lear's just keep on coming and will continue too............and that's a good thing. I think Kevin Kline who did a very young Lear would like to take another run at it too.

Maybe, I'm just thinking in general you have had historically had some kind of a gap - some plays get done to death though (Glengarry) - some plays have to rest usually the bigger the piece to be done on Broadway - Iceman and Angels took 20+ years, Lear has been done a lot in every medium but on the stage in NYC especially and I don't know how much interest there is to see anyone do it now after Jackson vs. a few years down the road where Washington would be more historically ideal for his age vs. the part....... Antony Sher did it this year too at BAM, etc.

It's a tricky thing because at 63 which I think Washington is now you'd initially say "too young" but not the way some of these guys (like Kline) have been doing it - late 40s! - personally I'd like to see him try something in between - I already discussed that only playing the great roles only thing in another thread........so who knows maybe he's still interested but also just interested in something else for the time being.

More interesting to me is Piper who could be screwing herself out of a Tony by taking on Jackson actually......

I saw Billie Piper doing Yerma and it's truly one of the finest performances I've ever seen. If it does end up on Broadway, Jackson has some unbelievably tough competition.

Why should the men have all the fun? Didn't Eleanor of Aquitaine ride into battle pregnant and bare-breasted?

king lear is a guy iirc

Got my ticket, a little after Opening - very excited!! Really bummed I missed her in the Albee last year.

Previews start next week!

Saw this last night! I haven’t seen many other Lear productions, so I don't have a base to compare it to, nevertheless I found this more often than not an engaging 3-1/2 hours, well acted from almost all, and surprisingly humorous.

I’ve read the play a few times and never picked up on the potential humor. Are there other productions that push this? For example, these two line readings (you wouldn't laugh reading them) got huge laughs from the audience - Oswald, after “catching" Goneril and Edmund together, with Albany arriving, says “Madam here comes my lord” - the way they stagger that line got a laugh. And the other, Lear’s scene with the blinded Gloucester, Lear complete with the famous flower crown is madly raving when the Gentleman says, with great sarcasm as if talking someone off the ledge, “You are a royal one....and we obey you.” That got a laugh and some applause too.

Glenda Jackson is very very good; it’s an ironic and precise performance, her line readings are hefted and at times drawn out with rolling r’s, but her frail diminutive frame challenges, or else countermands, the fear and force of her stricken demeanor. Without a broader, outsized presence, her rage feels more isolated, thus sadder. Her best scene is the one mentioned with Gloucester - “A man may see how this word goes with no eyes” - where she’s flawlessly balancing hilarious bittersweet wit and despaired raggedy madness. Ruth Wilson another highlight - as The Fool she’s like a Dickensian urchin, rude and wry, and always seemed to be doing something interesting and comical even on the outskirts of scenes. Pedro Pascal (Edmund), Elizabeth Marvel (Goneril), Tony winner Jayne Houdyshell (Gloucester) - all solid. Special mention to the deaf Russell Harvard (older HW from TWBB) which was an admirable casting decision. Weakest of the lot was whoever played Edgar - really felt like a student performance, a tumid, overdone display.

The blocking was good, I liked how a lot of the cast would sit on the sides during or between scenes creating a sort of enclosure of personnel. The gold-rimmed set, purple rug, props, costumes, interesting, and the practical fx were really effective. Some unique touches - Gloucester reading “These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us” as if reading headlines from a newspaper. The modern-y context is a little muddied though, the gunplay and army wear felt off. And well, some of the cast, in regards to impact in the total construct, come off as slight - too little Edmund, quite in the lineage of Richard III and Iago but without their dynamism, his winking scheming is forgotten when he isn’t on stage. Goneril and Regan are divested of focus, often scuttling inside “montage” esque scenes with Philip Glass’ music overlay - I loved his music about half of the time. Ummm… too much Edgar! Not just the performance, that too, but the character sort of rings-around and intrudes a lot, should be strange and heroic, instead feels excessive and tiresome. Kent here, arguably, feels totally extraneous. Although - Sam Gold’s direction is anything but banal, paced almost breathlessly, boldly foregrounds the humor, while also issuing startling violence, sexuality, etc... progressive casting a major point too…

AUDIENCE — They seemed to love it, much laughing, extended standing ovation. Older guy next to me I overheard say “Very stripped down production.” In the audience there was a service dog that had its own seat lol, one Jared Harris, and also - pacinoyes cough cough - I spotted in the third row orchestra just some musician, no big deal…… Elvis Costello ….

(took some pics of curtain call below)

Surprised at how muted the reviews are for this, considering how well Jackson was recieved when her Lear was done in the UK.

Guess this makes things a little easier for Scott Rudin and Denzel Washington to justify another staging of Lear on Broadway in another 2-3 years (if they stick to that notion). Might have been a bit harder to do it so soon after if this one was a critical triumph.