John Lithgow. Photo: Nigel Parry/CPi Syndication
The talented John Lithgow has been our mind a lot lately, first in August with his turn in the title role in King Lear, mounted by the Public Theater at that great New York City institution—Shakespeare in the Park.
In September, we were thrilled when Lithgow focused on more American matters, hosting the star-studded celebration of our national anthem and homegrown music in Star-Spangled Spectacular: Bicentennial of Our National Anthem, broadcast live from Baltimore’s harbor.
And now this October, we wish the Tony Award-winning actor well in his latest Broadway role, playing opposite Glenn Close in the revival of Edward Albee’s drama A Delicate Balance, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1967. Lithgow is well known for his 40 films and Emmy-winning roles in the television series “Dexter” and “Third Rock from the Sun,” but his career was launched on the Broadway stage in 1973. That’s when he won a Tony Award just three weeks after his Broadway debut, in David Storey’s The Changing Room. Since then he has appeared on Broadway 20 more times, earning five more Tony nominations, another Tony (Sweet Smell of Success), four Drama Desk Awards, and induction into the Theatre Hall of Fame.
A Delicate Balance highlights lives both strained and supported as the couple Tobias (Lithgow) and Agnes (Close) welcome home their daughter Julia (Martha Plimpton), whose fourth marriage is in ruins. Also of concern in their home are Agnes’ alcoholic sister, Claire (Lindsay Duncan) and newly arrived friends (Bob Balaban and Clare Higgins) who are seeking shelter from an indeterminate threat.
The play is directed by Pam McKinnon, who won the 2013 Tony Award for directing Albee’s play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Martha Plimpton is a veteran of Great Performances productions as well, giving quite an athletic performance as she karate fought with Stephen Colbert in Stephen Sondheim’s “Company” with the New York Philharmonic.
A Delicate Balance officially opens on Broadway on November 20 and can now be seen in previews. (For an explanation of previews for Broadway shows, see our as earlier post on The Last Ship). Lithgow described reuniting with Glenn Close (they were both in The World According to Garp with Robin Williams) and what it’s like to work on stage in an interview with Matt Lauer on the Today show. Tickets to the play can be purchased through Telecharge.