Cerveris joins Parker in HEDDA GABLER

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 6:03pm

Michael Cerveris will play Jorgen Tesman opposite Mary-Louise Parker's Hedda in Roundabout's revival of HEDDA GABLER. Todd Sparks will play Ejlert Lovborg.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Cerveris_and_Sparks_Join_Parker_in_Roundabouts_Hedda_Gabler_20010101

[Luckydave14]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 6:05pm

Can't wait to see this!

[stagescreen]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 6:10pm

This is going to be good theatre!

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 6:12pm

Yeah, you'd think, wouldn't you?

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 6:14pm

Yeah, you'd think, wouldn't you?

Wow.

This is fabulous news! It really is, Yankee!

[mormonophobic]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 6:31pm

YES!!!!!! I am now super-excited. I was going to see this just because I love Mary-Louise Parker and dig me some Ibsen.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 6:37pm

Yessss.

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 7:54pm

I hope it doesn't affect ROAD SHOW transferring.

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 7:56pm

Haha, ljay that was my first thought.

Oh well, either way I wish him the best!

[perfectliar]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 8:02pm

Such good news... even more excited for this production now.

[JeaniusIsMe]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 8:03pm

Wonderful news...I can't wait!

[EugLoven]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 8:46pm

TERRIFIC NEWS! Not only for our main-stay Cerveris, but EXCELLENT exposure for Sparks (who has been building a quiet fanbase following his work with MTC and Rattlestick). Exciting! Michael will be an apt Tesman.

[WickedMuzzy422]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 10:29pm

I'm so excited about this! it's going to be awesome!

[Vespertine1228]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 10:43pm

I agree about Sparks. He's the real news here. Totally awesome.

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 10:48pm

Forgive me for my youth and stupidity, but "What's this show about exactly?"

[being.jeremiah]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 11:00pm

From your new best friend, Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedda_Gabler]:
Warning: spoilers ahead.

"The action takes place in a villa in Kristiania (now Oslo). Hedda Gabler, daughter of an aristocratic General, has just returned from her honeymoon with Tesman, an aspiring young academic — reliable, but not brilliant, who has combined research with their honeymoon. It becomes clear in the course of the play that she has never loved him, but has married him for reasons pertaining to the boring nature of her life, and it is suggested, but repudiated that she may be pregnant. The reappearance of George Tesman's academic rival, Ejlert Lövborg, throws their lives into disarray. Lövborg, a writer, is also an alcoholic who has wasted his talent until now. Thanks to a relationship with Hedda's old schoolmate, Thea Elvsted (who has left her husband for him), he shows signs of rehabilitation, and has just completed a bestseller in the same field as Tesman. The critical success of his recently published work transforms Lövborg into a threat to Tesman, as Lövborg becomes a competitor for the university professorship which Tesman had been counting on. The couple are financially overstretched and Tesman now tells Hedda that he will not be able to finance the regular entertaining or luxurious housekeeping that Hedda had been looking forward to. Upon meeting Lövborg however, the couple discover that he has no intention of competing for professorship, but rather has spent the last few years labouring with Mrs. Elvsted over what he considers to be his masterpiece, the 'sequel' of his recently published work.

Hedda, apparently jealous of Mrs. Elvsted's influence over Ejlert, hopes to come between them. Tesman, returns home from a party and reveals that he found the manuscript of Ejlert Lövborg's great work, which the latter has lost while drunk. When Hedda next sees Lövborg, he confesses to her, despairingly, that he has lost the manuscript. Instead of telling him that the manuscript has been found, Hedda encourages him to commit suicide, giving him a pistol. She then burns the manuscript. She tells her husband she has destroyed it to secure their future.

When the news comes that Lövborg has indeed killed himself, Tesman and Mrs. Elvsted are determined to try to reconstruct his book from what they already know. Hedda is shocked to discover, from the sinister Judge Brack, that Ejlert's death, in a brothel, was messy and probably accidental (this 'ridiculous and vile' death contrasts the 'beautiful and free' one that Hedda had imagined for him). Worse, Brack knows where the pistol came from. This means that he has power over her, which he will use to insinuate himself into the household (there is a strong implication that he will try to seduce Hedda). Leaving the others, she goes into her smaller room and ends the play by shooting herself in the temple."

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 11:01pm

HEDDA GABLER begins in January, and it's obviously a limited run. If ROAD SHOW even transfers this season, it probably won't be until April.
And LimelightMake, you really should brush up on your Ibsen, HEDDA GABLER is a classic.
I really can't wait to see Mary-Louise Parker in this piece, I'm beyond excited. I'm not necessarily thrilled about Cerveris, he wouldn't have been my first, second, third, or even fourth choice for the role, but I'm sure he'll be fine.

[frogs_fan85]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 11:16pm

Great. I hope I can score first preview tickets.

[Theatreboy49]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 11:53pm

Another tony for Mary Louise Parker perhaps? Nomination for Michael. I see it in the future. I agree with whoever said this will be good theatre.

[Broadway Baby 2]

Posted: 10/29/08 at 12:02am

This is wonderful news. I think Michel Cerveris is brilliant.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 10/29/08 at 12:05am

OH MY GOD! That poster made me orgasm a little... okay, a lot. It's fantastic! I hope I can buy it at the theatre and have it signed, though I'm not sure Parker is an autograph-friendly gal.

[regnad kcin]

Posted: 10/29/08 at 2:19am

The poster really is fantastic - I love the line in the play about the golden leaves and I think it's telling about the production that the poster includes them. So jealous my folks are seeing this without me since I wrote an AP essay on it, two articles for my college paper and saw it in college. Brilliant. I wonder though, will Cerveris be nebbishy enough? He strikes me as more of an Eilert Lovboerg. I would have pictured someone like Denis O'Hare a la "Mattress" on TV or someone very slight. This comes from someone who knows nothing about Cerveris except his physical appearance, and that he was Sweeney and Tommy and in Assassins (correct?)
Updated On: 10/29/08 at 02:19 AM

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 10/29/08 at 8:01am

Ray, MLP signed my Playbill at RECKLESS a few years ago and my friend's "Fried Green Tomatoes" DVD. Back then at least, she was autograph-friendly. This might have changed since she has become much more popular through WEEDS. Regardless, I am *very* excited about this production. MLP is a stage actress, and that is where she belongs. I can't wait to see her tackle this role. As for Cerveris, I'm kind of tiring of him as of late, but who knows, maybe he'll surprise me.

[AC126748]

Posted: 10/29/08 at 8:30am

Is there any word as to who will play Judge Brack?

[jacobtsf]

Posted: 10/29/08 at 11:02am

regnad kcin- Cerveris is one of the best actors on Broadway, able to jump easily between Shakespeare and Sondheim. He will be amazing in this as well.