Entertainment

/

ArcaMax

Robert Downey Jr. to make Broadway debut in Lincoln Center's 'McNeal'

Karu F. Daniels, New York Daily News on

Published in Entertainment News

NEW YORK — Robert Downey Jr. is finally headed to Broadway.

The 59-year-old actor, who recently won an Oscar for his supporting role as Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” will headline Ayad Akhtar’s “McNeal” later this year.

“Good writers borrow, great writers steal,” reads the official synopsis of the play. “Jacob McNeal is a great writer, one of our greatest, a perpetual candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature. But McNeal also has an estranged son, a new novel, old axes to grind and an unhealthy fascination with artificial intelligence.”

Described as “a startling and wickedly smart examination of the inescapable humanity — and increasing inhumanity — of the stories we tell,” the play is set to begin performances at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater on Sept. 5.

The production is helmed by Tony Award-winner Bartlett Sher, known for directing 2008’s Broadway revival of “South Pacific” and 2018’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

 

Akhtar, a native of Staten Island, is the creative mind behind the Tony nominated play “Junk: The Golden Age of Debt” and the 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “Disgraced.”

Downey’s film credits include “Iron Man,” “Tropic Thunder” and the 1980s cult classic “Weird Science,” among many others. The Manhattan native previously performed onstage in the off-Broadway musical “American Passion” in 1983.

Complete casting of “McNeal” will be announced at a later date.


©2024 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus