Performances Begin for Manhattan Theatre Club’s “The Father” on Broadway

Performances Begin for Manhattan Theatre Club's "The Father" on Broadway
Preview by David Roberts
Theatre Reviews Limited

Performances began on Tuesday March 22, for Manhattan Theatre Club’s American premiere of The Father, the new play by Molière Award winner Florian Zeller, in a translation by two-time Tony Award winner Christopher Hampton (Sunset Boulevard, Les Liaisons DangereusesGod of Carnage), in a new production directed by Tony Award winner Doug Hughes (Doubt, Outside Mullingar, City of Conversation) at MTC’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street).

The Father stars three-time Tony Award winner and Academy Award nominee Frank Langella joined by Tony Award nominee Kathryn Erbe (“Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” The Speed of Darkness), Brian Avers (Rock ‘n’ Roll, The Lieutenant of Inishmore), Charles Borland (A Man for All Seasons), Drama Desk Award nominee Hannah Cabell (Pumpgirl at MTC, Grounded), and Kathleen McNenny (Fish in the Dark, An Enemy of the People at MTC).

The limited engagement of The Father opens Thursday, April 14, 2016 on Broadway at MTC’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street).

Three-time Tony Award winner Frank Langella returns to the stage in The Father, an all new Broadway production of the play which captivated Paris and London. Winner of the Molière Award, France’s most prestigious honor for a new work of theater, and The Guardian’s pick for Best Play of the Year.

Critics from London’s Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph, Times, The Guardian, The Mail on Sunday, The Observer, The Daily Mail, The Sunday Telegraph, Evening Standard, and The Financial Times all gave the play five stars. The Guardian called Zeller’s work “an astonishingly unguarded play about the cruelties of love and the limits of patience.” The Evening Standard called The Father “perfectly measured and quietly devastating.”

Now 80 years old, André (Frank Langella) was once a tap dancer. He lives with his daughter Anne (Kathryn Erbe) and her husband Antoine. Or was he an engineer whose daughter Anne lives in London with her new lover, Pierre? The thing is, he is still wearing his pajamas, and he can’t find his watch. He is starting to wonder if he’s losing control.

The creative team for The Father includes: Scott Pask (scenic design), Catherine Zuber (costume design), Donald Holder (lighting design), Fitz Patton (original music and sound design), and Jim Steinmeyer (illusion consultant).

Lead support for The Father has been provided by MTC’s Producing Fund Partner, Andrew Martin-Weber.

Manhattan Theatre Club, under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, has become one of the country’s most prominent and prestigious theatre companies. Over the past four and a half decades, MTC productions have earned numerous awards including six Pulitzer Prizes and 19 Tony Awards. MTC has a Broadway home at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street) and two Off-Broadway theatres at New York City Center (131 West 55th Street). Renowned MTC productions include Fool For Love by Sam Shepard; Airline Highway by Lisa D’Amour; Casa Valentina by Harvey Fierstein; Outside Mullingar and Doubt by John Patrick Stanley; The Commons of Pensacola by Amanda Peet; Murder Ballad by Julia Jordan and Juliana Nash; Choir Boy by Tarell Alvin McCraney; The Assembled Parties by Richard Greenberg; Wit by Margaret Edson; Venus in Fur by David Ives; Good People and Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire; The Whipping Man by Matthew Lopez; Time Stands Still by Donald Margulies; Ruined by Lynn Nottage; Proof by David Auburn; The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife by Charles Busch; Love! Valour! Compassion! by Terrence McNally; The Piano Lesson by August Wilson; Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley; and Ain’t Misbehavin’, the Fats Waller musical to name just a few. For more information on MTC, please visit www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com.