The rumors are true: Producer Eric Falkenstein has confirmed that John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest, Patrick Wilson and Katie Holmes will star in a new production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons on Broadway this fall. Simon McBurney, artistic director of the international company Complicite and a 1998 Tony nominee for The Chairs, will direct at a theater to be named; dates for previews and opening night have not yet been set.
In writing All My Sons, his first successful play, Miller took his inspiration from a true story about a successful businessman who knowingly sold the government defective airplane parts during World War II with tragic consequences. The truth comes out and his life unravels when his son marries his business partner's daughter.The play won the Tony Award in 1947 in a production starring Ed Begley and directed by Elia Kazan and ran for 328 performances on Broadway. It was revived in 1987 in a production that starred Richard Kiley.
Wiest was most recently on the New York stage in an acclaimed performance in The Seagull at CSC. She also appeared in Wendy Wasserstein's Third at Lincoln Center tTeater and Kathleen Tolan's Memory House at Playwrights Horizons. On Broadway she appeared in Salome, Solitaire, Othello, Beyond Therapy and In the Summer House. She won Obie Awards for her performances in The Art of Dining, Other Places and Serenading Louie. She won Academy Awards for Bullets Over Broadway and Hannah and Her Sisters and was most recently seen in Dan in Real Life. She played a psychiatrist in the recent HBO series In Treatment.
Wilson was last seen on Broadway in Barefoot in the Park and received Tony nominations for The Full Monty and Oklahoma!. Other New York theater credits include Fascinating Rhythm, Bright Lights, Big City and the Encores! production of Tenderloin. Wilson starred in the national tours of Carousel and Miss Saigon. Film and TV credits include an Emmy-nominated performance in Angels in America, Phantom of the Opera, Little Children and Evening
Holmes will make her Broadway debut in All My Sons. She made her film debut in Ang Lee's The Ice Storm, which led to her role in the popular television series Dawson's Creek. Other film credits include Disturbing Behavior, Go, Wonder Boys, Pieces of April, The Singing Detective, First Daughter, Thank You for Smoking, Batman Begins and Mad Money.
McBurney's work on this production of All My Sons grew out of a meeting with Arthur Miller in 2001, shortly after the playwright saw the New York premiere of Mnemonic.
Tony Award nominee Tom Pye will design sets and costumes for All My Sons. Additional creative team members and casting will be announced shortly.