If you are one of the many people who’ve been eagerly anticipating the Broadway debut of Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker in the revival of Eugene O’Neill’s Hughie, you’ll have to wait just a couple of days longer. The production was originally slated to begin previews on February 5; previews will now begin on February 8. Despite, the slight delay, opening is still scheduled for February 25 at the Booth Theatre.
Whitaker will star alongside stage veteran and Tony Award winner Frank Wood in the short two-character play set in the lobby of a small hotel on a West Side street in midtown New York during the summer of 1928. The play is what’s known as a two-hander — essentially a monologue — about the recently deceased night clerk of a grim hotel on Manhattan’s West Side who’s still mourned by “Erie Smith,” a drunk hustler keen on impressing Hughie’s replacement, “Charlie Hughes,” with reminiscences of past hijinks and adventures.
Whitaker will star as “Erie Smith and Wood will take on the role of “Charlie Hughes.” Tony winner Michael Grandage will direct the play.
Whitaker has built an impressive resume in films such as “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” “Bird,” and “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.” In 2007, he won an Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for his performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in 2006’s “The Last King of Scotland.” He also is a noted director who helmed the iconic girlfriend film “Waiting To Exhale” starring Whitney Houston, Loretta Devine, and Angela Bassett.
Wood won a Tony Award in 1999 for Best Featured Actor in a Play for Side Man. He also played “Bill” in the Broadway production of August: Osage County.
Hughie was last seen on Broadway in 1996 at the Circle in the Square Theatre in a production directed by and starring Al Pacino.
For more information about Hughie and to purchase tickets, visit here.
