West Wing's Lowe Leads Good Men to West EndDate: 25 April 2005
American screen actor Rob Lowe (pictured) will follow up his success in television’s The West Wing by making his West End debut in a newly updated version of 1980s play A Few Good Men, written by West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin. The new London production is scheduled to open on 6 September 2005 (previews from 18 August) at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, where its limited season is booking until 17 December 2005.
After starting his career as a child model, Lowe first achieved international fame as one of the young ‘Brat Pack’ actors of the 1980s. His films from the era included The Outsiders, Class, The Hotel New Hampshire, Youngblood, St Elmo’s Fire and About Last Night. After a scandal involving a sexually explicit videotape involving a minor derailed his career at the end of the 1980s, Lowe made a decisive comeback in 1999 with The West Wing, which he left in 2003, citing pay disputes. His other recent screen credits have included Austin Powers in Goldmember.
A Few Good Men centres on a military court case in which Marines, stationed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are accused of murdering their peer but claim in defence that they were only acting under orders. A hit on Broadway in 1989, it was made into a 1992 film starring Tom Cruise, Demi Moore and, as the battle-hardened colonel in command, Jack Nicholson.
Lowe will play Lt Daniel Kaffee, the military attorney played by Cruise in the screen version. No further casting has yet been announced. The production will be directed by David Esbjornsen (whose US credits include Edward Albee’s The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?) and presented in the West End by Bill Kenwright.
Speaking to US industry bible Variety, Sorkin said he was adapting the script afresh for the West End. “I’m polishing it, bearing in mind that I wrote it about 15 years ago.” Also speaking to Variety, Lowe dismissed the notion that there were any hard feelings between himself and Sorkin after Lowe’s departure from The West Wing. "I try to make it a policy to stay on good terms with the few geniuses I know in the world," he said. "There was never a problem between us, and this was a case of kismet. I called him, and when he told me he was adapting the play for the West End, it was exactly what I wanted to do."
Since A Few Good Men, Sorkin has concentrated on film work, with screenplays for Malice and The American President. It was leftover dialogue from the latter film that formed the basis for the award-winning series, The West Wing, for which Sorkin also acts as executive producer. His other, earlier stage plays include Hidden in the Picture.
Currently at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, Victoria Wood’s debut musical Acorn Antiques, starring Julie Walters and Celia Imrie, will close on 21 May 2005, after a run of 16 weeks (See Today’s Other News). No production has so far been announced for the interim.
- by Terri Paddock
NOTE: Booking for A Few Good Men at the Theatre Royal Haymarket is due to open on Tuesday 26 April 2005.
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