The Tony Award winning pair, thee Cicely Tyson (A Trip To Bountiful) and thee James Earl Jones (Fences, The Great White Hope), who haven’t shared a Broadway stage together since A Hand Is on the Gate in 1966, will join forces to bring a revival of The Gin Game to Broadway audiences this fall. The Gin Game is described as:
Weller Martin (Jones) and Fonsia Dorsey (Tyson) meet on the porch of their nursing home and strike up a friendship, with Weller teaching Fonsia how to play gin rummy. As they play, they share stories about the lives they led in the outside world. But when Fonsia wins every hand, Weller becomes increasingly frustrated, until their gin games and conversations become a battleground, with each player exposing the other’s failures, disappointments and insecurities.
Jones at age 84 and Tyson at age 90 will both be doing 8 shows a week like the true theatre professionals they are. Both have recently taken on the eight-show week without a fuss and will undoubtedly be able to sustain through the work load. Tyson won the 2013 Tony for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in The Trip to Bountiful and Jones was seen this past season in You Can’t Take It With You and the season before that in Gore Vidal’s The Best Man as the President of the United States.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning play will begin previews on September 21 and officially open on October 13 at the Golden Theater.
This is going to be true history in the making and we’ll be right there for all the excitement.
