Ewan McGregor Making Broadway Debut in ‘The Real Thing’

Tom Stoppard play centers on a writer whose marriage is on the skids

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Ewan McGregor will make his Broadway debut in a revival of Tom Stoppard’s knotty relationship drama “The Real Thing,” Roundabout Theatre Company said Thursday.

McGregor will play an unhappily married playwright, whose wife also happens to be the lead actress in a play he wrote about a fraying romantic relationship.  His decision to embark on an affair with their mutual friend becomes a case of life imitating art in true Stoppard fashion.

It’s a meaty role — one that won Tonys for Jeremy Irons in the original 1984 Broadway production and Stephen Dillane in a 2000 revival.

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The production will be directed by Sam Gold (“Picnic”) and will begin preview performances  Oct. 2, 2014 before opening  officially Oct. 30, 2014 at the American Airlines Theater. The  limited engagement show will run through Jan. 4, 2015.

McGregor recently wrapped production on  the western “Jane’s Got a Gun” and is currently filming the action comedy”Mortdecai” opposite Johnny Depp and Gwyneth Paltrow. He’ll next be seen on the big screen adaptation of Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play “August: Osage County,” which stars Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts and opens on Christmas Day.

The Scottish star may be new to Broadway, but he’s no stranger to stage. McGregor was last seen on the London stage in 2008 opposite Chiwetel Ejiofor in an acclaimed production of “Othello.” He also previously starred alongside Jane Krakowski in a revival of “Guys and Dolls” that earned him a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical.

 

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