Friday, July 28, 2006

Harry Potter treads the boards?

The boy next door is all grown up I guess ...

From Playbill.com:

"Harry Potter" actor Daniel Radcliffe is to take on his first leading role in the West End next year in a revival of Peter Shaffer’s Equus. No venue for the Thea Sharrock-directed production has been confirmed, but previews are reportedly due to start Feb. 16, 2007. opening Feb. 27.
Joining Radcliffe in the production will be the Tony-winning star of The History Boys, Richard Griffiths, who also appeared with Radcliffe in one of the “Harry Potter” movies.

Equus producers David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers gave Radcliffe his first role in the West End as the celebrity guest in The Play What I Wrote. Shaffer’s play will make new demands of the 17-year-old actor. As Strang, Radcliffe will perform a sexual act while riding naked on a horse.

About the show:
The show was originally staged by the National Theatre at the Old Vic in London in 1973. It was directed by John Dexter, and starred Alec McCowen as psychiatrist Martin Dysart and Peter Firth as Alan Strang, the patient. It was subsequently presented on Broadway at the Plymouth Theatre with Anthony Hopkins and Peter Firth. Later, Tom Hulce played the role of Alan Strang and Anthony Perkins replaced Hopkins as Martin Dysart. Perkins was briefly replaced by Richard Burton for the star's return to Broadway for a limited run. Perkins resumed the part when Burton's run ended. The play received a Tony Award for best play in 1975.

The Synopsis:
Shaffer was inspired to write Equus when he heard of a crime involving a teenage boy's apparently senseless injury to horses. He set out to construct a fictional account of what might have caused the incident, without knowing any of the details of the crime. The play is essentially a detective story, with the psychiatrist trying to understand the cause of the boy's actions while wrestling with his own sense of purpose. Shaffer based the play on a true story told to him by a friend.

Other takes on Harry Potter from fellow bloggers: Playgoer & Steve On Broadway

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Community Theater in the Mid Hudson Valley of New York. Information on shows, auditions, and our general adventures onstage, backstage and in the audience.