No vacancy
‘Othello’ and ‘The Band’s Visit’ search for B’way berths
O N the menu today: some Shubert Alley scuttlebutt.
Everybody’s wondering if “The Band’s Visit,” the new critics’ darling down at the Atlantic Theater, will move to Broadway in the spring and make the Tony for Best Musical a real horse race. Three shows are already in the mix — “Dear Evan Hansen” and both the upcoming “Groundhog Day” and “War Paint.” That last, I’m told, has undergone some skillful rewriting since it played Chicago.
Could “The Band’s Visit” be a spoiler?
I checked with my sources in the woodwind section and the word is . . . not this season. Although the show appears inti- mate onstage, it’s not a small production. The money people behind the show have crunched the numbers at a couple of theaters — the Booth, Circle in the Square — and can’t make them work.
“We need a decent-size house, and so far it doesn’t look like any will be available till the fall,” a reedy source says. “We’re not in a rush.” The musical, directed by David Cromer and with a fine score by
David Yazbek, is selling out at the Atlantic, where it’s been extended twice. It packs up on Jan. 8, so if you don’t see it before then, you’ll have to wait for the Broadway production in the fall. Meanwhile, Daniel
Craig is eyeing a move to Broadway after winning raves for his Iago in the New York Theatre Workshop production of “Othello.”
Craig, sources say, initially shied away from talk about Broadway because the critics were lukewarm to him in 2013’s “Betrayal.” But he’s happy now — as is his co-star, the excellent David
Oyelowo — and senses a shot at a Tony for Best Actor in a Play, if
the show can get in under the Tony cutoff date, which is April 27, 2017.
Barbara Broccoli, who controls the James Bond franchise — which has kept Craig toodling around in Aston Martins for years — is the money behind “Othello.”
Circle in the Square would be a good theater for “Othello,” though it has, sources say, been promised to a revival of “Once on This Island” that’s brewing for the spring.
The Hudson Theatre’s in the mix as well, though it’s booked until April 23 with the revival of “Sunday in the Park With George,” starring Jake Gyllenhaal.
Theater owners like to say that all their houses are booked these days, but whenever a box-office draw like Craig is circling, they usually find him a home.
“Betrayal” broke box-office records, grossing nearly $1.5 million a week. And when Craig teamed up with Hugh Jackman for “A Steady Rain” in 2009, the critics, who weren’t kind to the play, were irrelevant. So trust me. If James Bond wants a Broadway theater, he’s going to get one.