Julia Stiles to make Broadway debut in OLEANNA?

[Luckydave14]

Posted: 9/19/08 at 3:17pm

Searched but couldn't find anything...
Taken from IMDB.com:

Actress Julia Stiles is set to make her Broadway debut with a reprisal of her role in hit play Oleanna.

The Bourne Identity star first tackled the two-person show opposite Aaron Eckhart on London's West End stage in 2004.

She tells the New York Post, "I'm coming to Broadway. I'm so excited... It's where I started. I did shows off-Broadway. I did plays at La Mama. And I'm now going to do David Mamet's Oleanna. The one project I most want to do.

"By the end of the play pretty much everyone hates me. But I only know this will be my first time on Broadway. It's a dream of mine."

Oleanna tells the story of a power struggle between a university professor and one of his female students who accuses him of sexual harassment.

A date for its debut has not been officially announced.

[Pippin]

Posted: 9/19/08 at 3:20pm

How does this woman continue to work?

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 9/19/08 at 3:20pm

Boy, Mamet's having a renaissance, isn't he?

I saw Stiles in TWELFTH NIGHT, I think, in Central Park. I remember her being good.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 9/19/08 at 3:27pm

This play doesn't belong on Broadway. Can we please stop the play revivals? Thank you.

[TooDarnHot]

Posted: 9/19/08 at 3:28pm

OLEANNA?

Snore....

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 9/19/08 at 3:29pm

Enough with the Mamet already!

[mormonophobic]

Posted: 9/19/08 at 3:30pm

While I kind of agree that Oleanna doesn't belong on Broadway, I am rather partial to it and love Mamet's work. I honestly gasped when I saw that Julia Stiles would be debuting in it, for a good reason. I had no idea she had played it with Aaron Eckhart previously, I'm guessing that was phenomenal.

[blaxx]

Posted: 9/19/08 at 3:36pm

I also agree that the play is just a boring "who's fault was it?" snooze fest.

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 9/19/08 at 6:51pm

As someone who has performed the play and loves it, even I think this would be a huge mistake. Stiles is now too old for the role, and a two-person, 90-minute, one-set play does not belong on Broadway.

[batchels]

Posted: 9/20/08 at 9:06am

Julia Stiles was in Oleanna on the West End in London a few years back with Aaron Eckhart. I was not impressed with the show then and cant imagine them bringing this to Broadway. Stiles was rather stiff in the role.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 9/20/08 at 9:12am

In that case neither does a 4-person, 1-set, 1-keyboard 100 minute musical.

[Jon]

Posted: 9/20/08 at 2:14pm

Well, it won't be on Broadway much longer.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 9/20/08 at 3:41pm

She tells the New York Post, "I'm coming to Broadway. I'm so excited... It's where I started. I did shows off-Broadway. I did plays at La Mama. And I'm now going to do David Mamet's Oleanna. The one project I most want to do.

"By the end of the play pretty much everyone hates me. But I only know this will be my first time on Broadway. It's a dream of mine."


I'm confused. First she says "I'm coming to Broadway. I'm so excited... It's where I started." then says this will be her first time on Broadway? I assume in the ... there's something about theatre? Because otherwise she contradicts herself there.

That aside, there have been at least two one-person shows, one with the barest minimum of a set that have been on Broadway in the past two seasons. (I only saw one of them.)

Updated On: 9/20/08 at 03:41 PM

[Weez]

Posted: 9/20/08 at 4:00pm

I read it as "I've been off-Broadway, therefore I've done theatre in New York, and theatre in New York is awesome, but now I'm going to be on Broadway, which is the MOST awesome that theatre in New York can possibly be!". I fail to see how it's confusing.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 9/20/08 at 4:03pm

I figured it out, but if you read it as quoted here, the off-Broadway part comes after the part about coming to Broadway and "It's where I started." So it CAN be read as contradiction her statement that it is her Broadway debut. As I said, it seems something crucial such as "To be back on the New York stage." was left out in the ellipsis.

It's minor, but that ellipsis can lead it to be read as contradictory.

*EDIT* Going to the source, that is in fact the case.

"I'm coming to Broadway," she told me. "I'm so excited."

And what's this pretty young blonde with deep-set eyes really know from legit thittir[sic]?

"Please. It's where I started. I did shows off-Broadway. I did plays at La Mama. And I'm now going to do David Mamet's 'Oleanna.' The one project I most want to do. First of all, I already did a run of it four years ago at the Garrick in London."

(from the New York Post)

Updated On: 9/20/08 at 04:03 PM

[timote316]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 7:59pm

If this revival is actually a go, I'm shocked they haven't booked the Hayes yet. Appropriate for Broadway or not, the Hayes would seem to be an ideal theatre.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 8:05pm

I didn't know that Oleanna was up for a revival -- any other details?

[BrianIdol]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 8:32pm

First Katie Holmes and now this? Yuck.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 5:57am

Julia has always tried to do stage plays even in between filming, congrats on her Broadway debut!

[jcdenton08]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 9:07am

"First Katie Holmes and now this? Yuck."

Erm, I don't think the two are actually a fair comparison in my opinion. Julia Stiles is a recognised, albeit fairly limited, stage actress, who takes her work very seriously.

Having read through all the posts regarding this, it seems to me only one person actually saw her in the play in London?

In my opinion this does not need to be revived, not because it isn't a fantastic piece of writing, as well as some of Mamet's best, but because it has been done perfectly well already. For me, this is putting on a play for the benefit of the same people who will have seen it every other time it has been revived or committed to film!

For the record, I was comped for a Friday night performance in previews and I thought Stiles made a very good Carol. I thought the weak link was Aaron Eckhardt whose ocveracting, particularly in the play's pivotal moment, didn't garner the ation from the audience the director would've wanted.

Eckhardt did a rather bizarre Incredible Hulk-like finale, screaming and tearing as his shirt and thumping his fist in his hands as his life comes crashing down around him.

Rather than howls of anger at Carol, or gasps of shock or sympathy for John, or even an 'oh no', the audience around me burst into laughter, ruining a dramatic finale and leaving me feeling cheated..

An excellent play, Julia Stiles will be great, but totally pointless if you've ever seen this performed before!!

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 7:58am

Is this still happening? Was it ever happening?

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 12:49pm

To use our favorite phrase, "In this current economical climate"...no. I don't think many straight plays will be opening any time soon other than the ones already announced. And if Stiles thinks she can still pass for 20, then...anyway she is still beautiful and talented, and the play is a good one, but I really don't see this happening.