Elaine May _ the iconic actress, comedian, writer and director who first emerged in Chicago in the 1950s alongside her partner Mike Nichols _ is to return to Broadway next season.
May, 85, will star in the first Broadway production of Kenneth Lonergan's "The Waverly Gallery," a poignant and timely drama about an elderly gallery owner in Greenwich Village determined to cling to her independence and fight off the effects of aging. "The Waverly Gallery" was first seen at off-Broadway at the Promenade Theater in 2000, where it starred the late Eileen Heckart. "The Waverly Gallery" was one of three finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in 2001.
"I have always Elaine wanted to play this part," said Lonergan, in a telephone interview. Lonergan, a prolific screenwriter and playwright who won an Academy Award for his original screenplay for the 2016 movie "Manchester by the Sea," said that he and May were longtime friends.
In the new Broadway production, to be produced by Scott Rudin, May will appear alongside Michael Cera and Lucas Hedges. The show will be directed by Lila Neugebauer, who will be making her Broadway debut. Cera has frequently collaborated with Lonergan; Hedges was nominated for an Academy Award for his work in "Manchester by the Sea."
Neugebauer previously directed "The Wolves," a critically acclaimed Off-Broadway show about a soccer team composed of high-school girls.
As performer, this will be May's first opening night on Broadway since Oct. 1960, when she appeared in "An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May," a show that grew out of the legendary comedy duo's work at the Compass Players in Chicago. (Nichols died in 2014).
Preview performances for "The Waverly Gallery" begin at the John Golden Theatre, 252 W. 52nd St. in New York, on Sept. 25. Opening night is scheduled for Oct. 25.
Nichols and May famously played the John Golden Theatre in 1960; thus May will be returning to the same stage 58 years later.
