Manhattan Theatre Club has announced three plays on tap for its 2012-2013 season, including the world premiere of Liz Flahive’s drama The Madrid, starring Tony nominee Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie, The House of Blue Leaves, The Sopranos). The season also includes a new version of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, starring four-time Tony winner Boyd Gaines (The Columnist, Gypsy) and Golden Globe winner Richard Thomas (Race, Democracy, Fifth of July), as well as the New York premiere of Terrence McNally’s Golden Age. Additional casting and creative teams will be announced shortly.
MTC's Broadway season will get underway with Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s new version of An Enemy of the People, which will begin previews at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on September 4 and open on September 27, directed by Doug Hughes. When Dr. Thomas Stockmann (Gaines) discovers toxic contamination in the water used at the local baths, he expects to be hailed as a hero. But since the baths are the town’s main source of revenue, the community fights to silence him… and Dr. Stockmann learns that there are forces more powerful than truth. Thomas will play Peter Stockmann, the mayor of the town and brother of Dr. Thomas Stockmann.
Kicking off MTC’s off-Broadway season is the New York premiere of Golden Age, which will begin previews at New York City Center Stage I on November 13 and open on December 4, directed by Walter Bobbie. The play chronicles the backstage drama at one of the most fabled first nights in operatic history. It's opening night of Vincenzo Bellini's new opera I Puritani in Paris in 1835. The Italian composer is determined to win the adulation of not only his French audience, but his colleagues and rivals as well. Celebrating the timeless beauty of 19th-century bel canto opera, Golden Age portrays the final act of an artist whose desire for greatness has eclipsed all else. The play was produced in 2010 at the Kennedy Center in a production starring Jeffrey Carlson.
The Madrid will begin previews at New York City Center Stage I on February 5, 2013, and open on February 26, directed by Leigh Silverman, who collaborated with Flahive on MTC's production of From Up Here. Falco stars as Martha, a kindergarten teacher with a life many would want: a loving husband, a devoted daughter. But when she leaves it all behind, it’s up to her daughter Sarah to pick up the pieces.