As previously reported, Broadway Black veterans and Tony Award winners James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson are set to star in the Pulitzer Prize-winning cla
ssic, The Gin Game, this fall. Originally set to begin previews September 21, the show will now start previews three days earlier (September 18) and pre-sale tickets are available for Citi® cardmembers. The Gin Game, directed by Leonard Foglia (Master Class, Thurgood), will still have its opening night on Tuesday, October 13 at the Golden Theatre (252 West 45th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue). The production will play a limited engagement through Sunday, January 10, 2016.
Weller Martin (James Earl Jones) and Fonsia Dorsey (Cicely 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.
Mr. Jones and Ms. Tyson are sharing a Broadway stage for the first time since 1966, when they appeared in A Hand Is On The Gate at the Longacre Theatre. They also starred in the long-running Off-Broadway production of Jean Genet’s The Blacks. They starred opposite each other in the film “The River Niger” and the TV movie “Heat Wave.” Mr. Jones is a two-time Tony Award winner (Fences, The Great White Hope), three-time Emmy Award winner (“Heat Wave,” “Gabriel’s Fire,” “Summer’s End”) and the recipient of a Grammy Award and an Honorary Academy Award. Ms. Tyson is a Tony Award-winner (The Trip to Bountiful), a three-time Emmy Award winner (“The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,” “The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All”) and an Academy Award nominee (“Sounder”).
The production will feature set and costume design by Riccardo Hernandez, lighting design by Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer and sound design by David Van Tieghem. The Gin Game will begin rehearsals on Thursday, August 13.
Tickets for The Gin Game go on sale exclusively to Citi® cardmembers from Wednesday, June 24 through Sunday, July 5. Visit www.CitiPrivatePass.com for details.
Audience Rewards® members can purchase tickets through an exclusive presale from Monday, July 6 through Sunday, July 12. Audience Rewards® is the Official Rewards Program of Broadway & the Arts™. It’s a standing ovation for ticket buyers across the nation. It’s free and fast to join. Visit www.AudienceRewards.com to sign up and purchase.
Ticket sales to the public begins on Monday, July 13 by calling Telecharge.com at 212-239-6200 or 800-447-7400 or online at www.Telecharge.com.
