Jeff Daniels -- TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD contract?

Just wondering if anyone knows how long Jeff Daniels is contracted for?

I was looking at tickets for my mother and I for April, about 6 months after they start performances, but want to be sure he'll be there, as he's the reason I'm taking her. Thanks in advance!

Updated On: 8/13/18 at 07:14 PM

Single tickets are on sale through March 17, 2019, but groups are on sale through June 9 (presumably the date of next year's Tonys). It seems likely that Daniels would be contracted through June 9, though that would be a pretty long run for a star in a play nowadays (7.5 months of performances + rehearsals).

Playing through June and beyond probably depends on reviews and sales, but I could see this running a while if it's good (with or without Daniels).

Even with a framing device that makes this (apparently) a memory play, I'm still a little surprised they cast a 63 year old Jeff Daniels as Atticus Finch. Gregory Peck was 45 when he played the role in the film. So I guess everyone is 20 years too old for the meat of the story. Interesting to see how that plays out energetically on stage.

I seem to remember a line in the book that Atticus is "nearly fifty," so still closer to 1962 Gregory Peck than 2018 Jeff Daniels.

LesWickedly said: "The Distinctive Baritone said: "There’s an adult Scout (narrator) AND a child Scout, no?"

Children Scout, Jem and Dill are all being played by adults in this production. There was a narrator Scout in a different adaption, but this one is new."

Bizarre! Because what is most brilliant about Lee's novel is the way it is told so consistently from the p.o.v. of its 10-year-old narrator (however precocious Scout may be). The film manages to capture a similar quality, despite the use of age-appropriate actors.

I'd rather see To Kill a Mockingbird done with all children than with all adults.

(And, yes, I realize that every adaptation has to become its own property, apart from the source; but most adaptors don't start by eliminating what is best about their source.)

KFC1991 said: "^Gaveston, Sorkin wanted adults because he feels that no one wants to listen to kids talk for two hours."

Funny how nobody said that when Julie Harris (25, but small and playing a child) and Brandon De Wilde (an actual 8-year-old) were appearing in A MEMBER OF THE WEDDING on Broadway and in the movie.

If you ask me, Sorkin has been dipping into the magic mushrooms again. I can't imagine anything worse than an adult playing Dill, a wonderful character who contributes so little to the plot that he might as well be cut from a stage version if one can't find a suitable child actor.

If I lived near NYC, I would at least wait to hear the word-of-mouth and/or reviews before I invested in the production. But Sorkin is a talented guy and may well prove me wrong, And if his goal is to present a more complex Atticus, then perhaps it makes sense to forget Scout's p.o.v., since 10-year-olds are wont to see their parents as "perfect in every way".