NY Transfer Looms for Kidman in Blue Room
Date: 2 October 1998
Rumours are rife that the Donmar Warehouse production of David Hare's newly adapted The Blue Room, starring Hollywood film star Nicole Kidman, will transfer to New York after it closes at the 250-seat off-West End venue at the end of this month.
According to a report in The Express newspaper today, the production is jockeying for a US premiere at New York's 1,000-seat Cort Theatre before the end of the year. Final confirmation of the transfer, says the paper, will depend on a favourable review in the New York Times whose reviewer has not yet passed judgement on the London show.
A spokesperson for The Blue Room refused to comment on any future plans for the production. 'The official line is that it's closing on 31 October and that's it,' he told What's On Stage. The show, which opened 22 September following previews from 10 September, is completely sold out for the rest of its run at the Donmar.
The Blue Room is David Hare's totally modern take of Arthur Schnitzler's classic romantic text Reigen which later became La Ronde after the film version. First performed in 1912, the play caused a scandal with its bitter and comic assessment of love, depicted in a series of sexual liaisons. In the two-hander, Kidman and co-star Iain Glen both play five different characters.
Kidman has been praised by London critics for both her sexual wattage as well as her stage performance. The star, who commands millions of dollars for her film appearances, is receiving the Equity standard of £250 per week for her run at the Donmar. She decided to make her West End debut as she and husband Tom Cruise have been residing in London for the past two years while filming for Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut.
The Blue Room is directed by Sam Mendes, artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse, with design by Mark Thompson, lighting by Hugh Vanstone and music by Paddy Cuneen.
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