Hartford, CT – February 24, 2020 – Former Artistic Director Michael Wilson will
return to Hartford Stage in March to direct the original play which inspired
the Academy Award-winning film The King’s Speech. Written by Academy Award-winning
screenwriter David Seidler,
the play tells the true story of King George VI, his speech
therapist Lionel Logue, and a friendship that helped steer the course of
history. The King’s Speech will run Thursday, March 19, through Sunday, April 19.
“It's a wonderful gift to our
2019/2020 season to welcome back Michael Wilson, a dear friend to me and to the
Hartford community,” said Hartford Stage Artistic Director Melia Bensussen. “The
timing of this production couldn't be more perfect: with our focus on the
British monarchy, and the responsibilities central to their role, this production brings to mind the history
of the many challenges in accepting leadership. Perhaps more close to
home, The King's Speech reminds us with great wit of the
gifts we receive from our mentors and teachers. I’m grateful to have the
opportunity to connect back to Michael’s legacy at Hartford Stage and to
welcome audiences to once again enjoy his exuberant and theatrical work.”
With international war looming, England’s King George V dies, leaving
the Crown and the crisis to his youngest son Bertie. Shy, fragile and afflicted
with a profound stammer, Bertie is ill-equipped to inspire and lead a people
now instantaneously informed by a new invention: the wireless radio. He seeks
help from a Harley Street doctor, Lionel Logue, and finds an unexpected friendship.
But can Logue help the King find his voice? Their success or failure as
therapist and patient will seal their destiny, the destiny of England and,
perhaps, the world. The King’s Speech premiered at the Yvonne
Arnaud Theatre in the UK before debuting on the West End. The film that
followed the play won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best
Director, Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay for David Seidler. The play
made its North American debut last year at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
Former Hartford Stage Artistic Director Michael Wilson (1998-2011) directed the
Tony Award-nominated revivals of Gore Vidal’s The Best Man and Horton Foote’s The
Trip to Bountiful, which earned a Tony Award for Cicely Tyson, as well as
the Tony Award-nominated plays Enchanted
April and Dividing the Estate. A
Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics' Circle Award winner for his acclaimed
three-part, nine-hour production of Foote’s The
Orphans’ Home Cycle, Wilson directed the 2016 Los Angeles premiere of the
musical Grey Gardens starring Betty
Buckley and Rachel York. Recent projects include the premiere of the new
musical Beau by Douglas Lyons and
Ethan Pakchar, the American Repertory Theatre revival of The Night of the Iguana, and the premiere of Fellow Travelers by Jack Canfora.
Playwright David Seidler was born in London and sent to the United States as
an infant during World War II, which resulted in a childhood stammer. George
VI, the reluctant stuttering king, became his boyhood hero, role model, and the
inspiration for The King’s Speech, which
was adapted for film starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter,
and Guy Pearce. The film won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Original
Screenplay for Seidler in 2010. Seidler’s career began with writing dubbed
scripts for Godzilla: King of the Monsters
movies. In Hollywood, he has over 20 credits, most notably Tucker: The Man and His Dream, starring Jeff Bridges and directed
by Francis Ford Coppola.
Broadway
veteran Bryan Batt (Cats, Sunset Boulevard), who co-starred on the award-winning AMC series Mad Men, will play Lionel
Logue. Nick Westrate (Casa Valentina, Bernhardt/Hamlet, and A Moon
for the Misbegotten, Broadway) will play Bertie.
Also in the cast of The King’s
Speech are Harry Belden (Letters Home, Griffin Theatre)–Understudy; Jeffrey Diebold (Mamma
Mia!, North American Tour) as Royal Herald; Tony Dobrowolski (The Winter’s Tale, Chicago Shakespeare Theater)– Understudy; Michelle Jasso (Grand Hotel, Kokandy Productions)–Understudy; John Judd as
King George V (American
Buffalo, McCarter Theatre Center);
Bill Kux (Gore Vidal’s The Best Man,
Broadway; Ether Dome, Hartford Stage) as BBC News Commentator; Maggie Lacey (Dividing the
Estate, Broadway; The Orphans’ Home
Cycle, Hartford Stage) as Elizabeth; Elizabeth Ledo (Our Town, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre) as
Myrtle Logue; David Lively (Twelve Angry Men, Roundabout Theatre Company National Tour) as Stanley Baldwin; Tim
Monsion (Marvin’s Room,
Playwrights Horizons/Hartford Stage) as Winston Churchill;
Jeff
Parker (Candide,
Huntington Theatre Company) as David; Chad Patterson (As You Like It, Pacific Conservatory
Theatre) as Royal Footman; Tiffany Scott (Sense & Sensibility: The Musical, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre) as
Wallis Simpson; Noble
Shropshire (The Drowsy Chaperone,
Broadway; A Christmas Carol–A Ghost Story
of Christmas, Hartford Stage) as Cosmo Lang; and Trevor Strahan (Richard III, Shakespeare Dallas) as Royal Footman.
The creative
team includes Scenic Designer Kevin Depinet (Of Mice and Men, Broadway–Associate Designer);
Costume Designer David C. Woolard (West Side Story, Broadway); Lighting
Designer Howell Binkley (Hamilton–Tony
Award, Broadway); Projection Designer Hana S. Kim
(Sweat, American Conservatory Theater); Sound Designer and Original Music Composer John Gromada
(over 40 Broadway productions, including The Trip to Bountiful and Gore Vidal’s The Best Man); Wig and
Make-Up Designer Richard Jarvie
(A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Chicago
Shakespeare Theater); Choreographer Jane Lanier
(Guys and Dolls, Broadway–Associate
Choreographer); and Dramaturg Christopher Baker (The Orphans’ Home Cycle, Hartford Stage).
The Production
Stage Manager is Lori Lundquist (Jeeves & Wooster in “Perfect Nonsense”, Hartford Stage). Lauren Cavanaugh (At the Old
Place, Old Globe Theatre) and Katrina
Herrmann (The Steadfast Tin Soldier,
Lookingglass Theatre Company) are the Assistant Stage Managers.
Producers for the Hartford Stage production of The King’s Speech are David
& Janice Klein, The Pryor
Family, and Jack & Donna Sennott.