The La Femme Theatre production of Tennessee Williams' The Night of the Iguana, directed by Emily Mann, officially opened Off-Broadway December 17, and the reviews are rolling in. The production began previews December 6 at The Irene Diamond Stage at The Pershing Square Signature Center.
The cast features Tim Daly (The Sopranos, Madam Secretary) as Rev. Shannon, Daphne Rubin-Vega (Rent) as Maxine, Lea DeLaria (Orange Is the New Black) as Judith Fellowes, Austin Pendleton (Between Riverside and Crazy, The Minutes) as Nonno, Jean Lichty as Hannah, Carmen Berkeley (Our Dear Dead Drug Lord) as Charlotte, Eliud Garcia Kauffman as Hank, Keith Randolph Smith as Jake, Bradley James Tejeda as Pedro, Dan Teixeira as Pancho, Michael Leigh Cook as Herr Fahrenkopf, and Alena Acker as Frau Fahrenkopf, along with understudies Christopher Innvar, Tuck Milligan, Dee Pelletier, Alexia Pores, and Buzz Roddy.
In The Night of the Iguana, which debuted on Broadway in 1961, a defrocked clergyman encounters inside disturbances amid outside disturbances at the Costa Verde Hotel in Acapulco as the world prepares for World War II. After four women of different ages and backgrounds, along with a 97-year-old poet, engage in the clergyman's spiritual struggles, their lives leap dramatically forward.
Read the reviews here.
New York Stage Review (David Finkle)
New York Stage Review (Roma Torre)
New York Theatre Guide (Kyle Turner)
Theater Pizzazz (Samuel L. Leiter)
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Playbill will continue to update this list as reviews come in.
"The Night of the Iguana poses critical questions of faith and identity that are particularly relevant today as we navigate a paradoxically divided yet open world. Tennessee offers an answer by writing an epic that he described as 'a play about love in its purest terms.' And La Femme is thrilled to render this production for the 21st century, directed by the great Emily Mann,” said La Femme Executive Director Lichty in an earlier statement.
La Femme Theatre Productions initially presented the play in a 2020 digital reading benefiting The Actors Fund, featuring Dylan McDermott, Phylicia Rashad, and Roberta Maxwell.
The production also has scenic design by Beowulf Boritt, costume design by Jennifer von Mayrhauser, lighting design by Jeff Croiter, sound design by Darron L West, prop design by Kathy Fabian, dramaturgy and language consultation by Amy Stoller, and casting direction by Stephanie Klapper Casting. Tinc Productions provides production management and LDK Productions' Lisa Dozier Shacket provides general management.
Performances continue through February 25, 2024.
Although it's playing the Signature Center, The Night of the Iguana is not a production of Signature Theatre.
Visit IguanaPlayNYC.com.
Tim Daly, Austin Pendleton, and Jean Lichty in The Night of the Iguana
Tim Daly and Lea DeLaria in The Night of the Iguana
Tim Daly and Jean Lichty in The Night of the Iguana
Daphne Rubin-Vega and Tim Daly in The Night of the Iguana
Daphne Rubin-Vega, Jean Lichty, Tim Daly, Austin Pendleton, Alena Acker, and Michael Leigh Cook in The Night of the Iguana
Tim Daly, Lea DeLaria, and Keith Randolph Smith in The Night of the Iguana
Daphne Rubin-Vega and Tim Daly in The Night of the Iguana
Jean Lichty as Hannah and Austin Pendleton in The Night of the Iguana
