Tom Stoppard's LEOPOLDSTADT to play Broadway's Longacre Theatre beginning September 2022

UPDATE 6/7/22: "The Broadway production, with a cast of 38, is scheduled to begin previews Sept. 14 and to open Oct. 2 at the Longacre Theater."





No dates or theatre yet, but there's a website and auditions are happening this month. Sonia Friedman is producing and Patrick Marber is directing.

Leopoldstadt frames the narrative of a Jewish family in Vienna, who had fled the pogroms, over a period of some 50 years. The main set is the drawing room of a wealthy family. There are five acts occurring in the years 1899, 1900, 1924, and 1955. It has been described as Tom Stoppard's equivalent of Schindler's List.

LEOPOLDSTADT won the 2020 Olivier Award for Best Play and Best Supporting Actor (Adrian Scarborough). Ben Brantley gave it a Critic's Pick in the NYT.

Updated On: 6/7/22 at 11:17 AM

Woah, I missed the fact that it has 41 actors. That'll be a big, expensive play, but this kind of thing is Sonia Friedman's bread and butter.

I guess it's good that it's "only" 2.5 hours, and not a Ferryman or Inheritance-length ordeal?

Does this have similarities to Prayer for the French Republic? I haven't seen either, but on paper they sound similar.

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Woah, I missed the fact that it has 41 actors. That'll be a big, expensive play, but this kind of thing is Sonia Friedman's bread and butter.

I guess it's good that it's "only" 2.5 hours, and not aFerrymanorInheritance-length ordeal?

Does this have similarities to Prayer for the French Republic? I haven't seen either, but on paper they sound similar."

Having seen Leopoldstadt but not Prayer, Prayer seems to be an inverse in a sense. Prayer began with the Holocaust and explored its legacy moving forward, whilst the first half of Leopoldstadt deals with the pre-war period of apparent security and assimilation, and explores how the Nazis destroyed this....

I've seen both plays.

They deal with similar ideas and themes, and evoked a similar emotional reaction from me. Particularly in the way they explore the sense of generational loss among modern Jewish people, and the attempt to preserve family history. Leopoldstadt is not as political though - it does not address Israel or Palestine.

But I thought "Prayer" was by far the superior piece of writing. In fact, after seeing "Prayer" I literally thought to myself "this is the play that Leopoldstadt should have been."

JBroadway said: "I've seen both plays.

They deal with similar ideas and themes, and evoked a similar emotional reaction from me. Particularly in the way they explore the sense of generational loss among modern Jewish people, and the attempt to preserve family history. Leopoldstadt is not as political though - it does not address Israel or Palestine.

But I thought "Prayer" was by far the superior piece of writing. In fact, after seeing "Prayer" I literally thought to myself "this is the play that Leopoldstadt should have been.""

Which of them did you see first - when and where? Leopoldstadt technically DOES address Israel/Palestine in passing (In the early sections, the protagonists dismiss the emergence of the Zionist movement, believing they are perfectly safe in Vienna) but it's more of a "tragic irony comic moment" than a real exploration of the relationship between Jews in Europe and Jews in Israel...

BritCrit said: "Which of them did you see first - when and where? Leopoldstadt technically DOES address Israel/Palestine in passing (In the early sections, the protagonists dismiss the emergence of the Zionist movement, believing they are perfectly safe in Vienna) but it's more of a "tragic irony comic moment" than a real exploration of the relationship between Jews in Europe and Jews in Israel..."



Sorry for the error - frankly I remember very little about the content of Leopoldstadt before the final scene (I guess I shouldn't have spoken on it then - but as you said, I didn't recall that being a central theme).

To answer your question, I saw Leopoldstadt in London in March of 2020 (yes, very shortly before the shutdowns), and I just saw Prayer back in February.

JBroadway said: "BritCrit said: "Which of them did you see first - when and where? Leopoldstadt technically DOES address Israel/Palestine in passing (In the early sections, the protagonists dismiss the emergence of the Zionist movement, believing they are perfectly safe in Vienna) but it's more of a "tragic irony comic moment" than a real exploration of the relationship between Jews in Europe and Jews in Israel..."



Sorry for the error - frankly I remember very little about the content of Leopoldstadt before the final scene (I guess I shouldn't have spoken on it then - but as you said, I didn't recall that being a central theme).

To answer your question, I saw Leopoldstadt in London in March of 2020 (yes, very shortly before the shutdowns), and I just saw Prayer back in February.

"

It's not a major error, it's just failing to notice one line which reflects one theme of Leopoldstadt (The complacency many Vienna Jews felt over assimilation) - the topic of Zionism is not mentioned elsewhere (Considering the aggressive discourse over the topic, and my own conflicted feelings, this is probably a good thing...)

Lumiere2 said: "Mirvish has told its subscribers in Toronto who had tickets for the cancelled run in January 2022 that Leopoldstadt would be one of the shows in its 2022-2023 subscription season. It wouldn't surprise me to see it play Toronto this fall before moving to NYC and opening in early 2023."

Maybe –– or they open on Broadway in Fall 2022, then open a spring/summer 2023 company that plays a month in Toronto and a month in LA? A Toronto-appropriate set was probably well under construction when they announced the Toronto postponement (December 6, 2021 ahead of a Jan 22, 2022 preview).

This cast was announced for Toronto in 2021, but many of them are British. Wonder if they are hoping for a mostly-American cast here (which is also a cost-saving measure if everyone's an NYC local hire), or bringing over some British principals? Is this an ensemble piece, or is there a role for a semi-star?

Updated On: 4/8/22 at 04:05 PM

The latest news:

"The Broadway production, with a cast of 38, is scheduled to begin previews Sept. 14 and to open Oct. 2 at the Longacre Theater. ... Marber said that Stoppard has continued revising the play for New York, where he said he expects the play to resonate differently because of the ongoing war in Ukraine."

It's produced by Sonia Friedman, Roy Furman, and...Lorne Michaels!

Michael Paulson also tweeted that they will bring over "some" of the British actors, but "the cast will be mostly American."

Updated On: 6/7/22 at 10:14 AM

We talked a few months ago on this thread about the play's connection between Toronto and Broadway - it's exciting this is coming to NYC in September.

Mirvish (here in Toronto) is still insisting Leopoldstadt is going to be part of the upcoming 2022-23 subscription season. The official announcement of the full season (including plays, theatres and dates) are being announced in a press release tomorrow (Wednesday June 8th)

Now that it's NYC this fall for "a limited engagement", I wonder if now they're planning on Toronto for early 2023.

This sounds right up my alley! Super excited to see it!

Yeah, why would anyone ever want to see one of the most acclaimed playwrights of all time’s quite possibly final play?

Has anybody seen a performance schedule? AMEX pre-sale begins in two days, and nothing on Telecharge or the play's website ...