ABOUT THE SHOW

Coming directly from its critically acclaimed run at Chicago’s prestigious Goodman Theatre came a work of monumental passion and epic sensuality. An intense erotic journey. An experience you will not soon forget...Eugene O’Neill’s DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS, starring two-time Tony Award winner BRIAN DENNEHY, stage and screen star CARLA GUGINO, and Tony nominee PABLO SCHREIBER, under the direction of Tony Award Winner ROBERT FALLS.

DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS also starred BORIS McGIVER and DANIEL STEWART SHERMAN, and featureddesigns by WALT SPANGLER (set design), ANA KUZMANIC (costume design), MICHAEL PHILIPPI (Lighting Design),and RICHARD WOODBURY (Original Music and Sound Design).

DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS was produced by: Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Steve Traxler, Bat-Barry Productions, Ronald Frankel, Norton Herrick, Judith Resnick, Daryl Roth, The Weinstein Company, Scott Delman/Alan D. Marks, Mort Swinsky/Michael Fuchs, Mark Johannes & Amy Danis/Jack Thomas, Morris Berchard/Eric Falkenstein, in association with Terri & Timothy Childs, Jam Theatricals, Jamie deRoy, and Jujamcyn Theaters.

Category: Play, Revival, Broadway
Setting: The Cabot farmhouse, New England.
1^st Preview Performance: April 14, 2009
Opening Night Performance: April 27, 2009
Final Performance: May 24, 2009
Total # of Performances: 32

2009 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Music – Richard Woodbury (nominee)
2009 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Set Design – Walt Spangler (nominee)

Opening Night Cast
Brian Dennehy (Ephraim Cabot)
Carla Gugino (Abbie Putnam)

Understudies: Christian Conn (Eben Cabot), John Henry Cox (Ephraim Cabot), Kelly Hutchinson (Abbie Putnam), Michael Laurence (Peter Cabot, Simeon Cabot).

Theatre Owned / Operated by Jujamcyn Theaters (Rocco Landesman: President; Paul Libin: Producing Director; Jack Viertel: Creative Director; Jordan Roth: Vice President)

Produced by Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Steve Traxler, Bat-Barry Productions, Ronald Frankel, Norton Herrick, Judith Resnick, Daryl Roth, The Weinstein Company, Scott Delman/Alan D. Marks, Mort Swinsky/Michael Fuchs/Cindy & Jay Gutterman, Mark Johannes & Amy Danis/Jack Thomas and Morris Berchard/Eric Falkenstein; Produced in association with Terri and Timothy Childs, Jam Theatricals, Jamie deRoy and Jujamcyn Theaters (Rocco Landesman: President; Paul Libin: Producing Director; Jack Viertel: Creative Director; Jordan Roth: Vice President); Associate Producer: Broadway Across America (John Gore, CEO; Thomas B. McGrath, Chairman; Beth Williams, COO & Head of Production)

Previously produced by: The Goodman Theatre (Robert Falls, Artistic Director; Roche Schulfer, Executive Director)

Written by Eugene O'Neill

Scenic Design by Walt Spangler; Costume Design by Ana Kuzmanic; Lighting Design by Michael Philippi; Original Music and Sound Design by Richard Woodbury; Wig Design by Charles G. LaPointe; Assistant Scenic Design: Ann Bartok and Jisun Kim; Assistant Costume Design: Amelia Dombrowski; Assistant Lighting Design: Paul Hackenmueller; Assistant Sound Design: Erich Bechtel and Nathaniel Hare

General Manager: Richards / Climan, Inc.; Company Manager: Jolie Gabler; Associate Gen. Mgr: John Gendron

Production Stage Manager: Robert Bennett; Technical Supervisor: Larry Morley; Stage Manager: Lois Griffing

Casting: Telsey + Company; General Press Representative: Jeffrey Richards Associates; Advertising: SPOTCo, Inc.; Fight Director: Rick Sordelet; Dialect Coach: Patricia Fletcher; Photographer: Liz Lauren

“Rarely has sexual passion been depicted with such tense, animalistic ferocity on a Broadway stage. Carla Gugino offers a thrilling, brave, luminous, ultimately haunting performance. Pablo Schreiber and Brian Dennehy give performances of unflagging commitment and exposed feeling. A gutsy, entrancing, visually spectacular production.” – Charles Isherwood, The New York Times

“You won't find a more intense experience on Broadway!ROBERT FALLS’ production unfurls at a fever pitch. EMBRACE THE INSANITY!” –Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Post

“Gugino is nakedly emotional. Her raw, sensual performance as the conniving, surviving, slave-to-lust Abbie gets under your skin.” – Joe Dziemianowicz, Daily News

“a must for any serious theatergoer. This startling, enormously imaginative reinvention is almost operatic in its intensity and expansiveness. Director Robert Falls and a terrific cast headed by Brian Dennehy, Carla Gugino and Pablo Schreiber are at the top of their game. A BIG, BOOMING, blistering revival!” – Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press

“An event. This is POWERFUL theater, the sort of drama that holds up over the years, with some of the greatest dialogue ever written for the stage. Gugino gives a courageous performance. Dennehy is TITANIC.” – Jeffrey Lyons, News 4 NY

BRIAN DENNEHY (Ephraim Cabot) credits at the Goodman include Hughie (2004, also at Trinity Repertory Company and Long Wharf Theatre), Long Day’s Journey Into Night (2002), Death of a Salesman (1998), A Touch of the Poet (1996), The Iceman Cometh (1992, also at Abbey Theatre, Dublin) and Galileo (1986). His Broadway credits include Inherit the Wind (2007), Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Tony Award for Best Actor 2003), Death of a Salesman (Tony Award for Best Actor 1999) and Translations (1995). His off-Broadway credits include Richard Nelson’s Conversations in Tusculum at The Public Theatre (2008), Trumbo at Westside Theatre (2004), The Cherry Orchard at Brooklyn Academy of Music (1988) and Says I, Says He at the Phoenix Theater Company (1979). Dennehy’s regional theater credits include All’s Well That Ends Well, Hughie and Krapp’s Last Tape at Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario (2008); The Exonerated (which toured New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington D.C.; Says I, Says He at Mark Taper Forum; and Rat in the Skull at Wisdom Bridge Theatre. His credits in London’s West End include Death of a Salesman, for which he received the Olivier Best Actor Statue in 2005. Feature films include Righteous Kill, War Eagle, Welcome to Paradise, Ratatouille, Tommy Boy, Baz Luhrman’s Romeo & Juliet, Presumed Innocent, Gladiator, Best Seller, The Last of the Finest, The Belly of an Architect (Best Actor Chicago Film Festival), F/X and Cocoon, among many others. Television films include “Our Fathers” (Showtime, Emmy Award nomination Best Supporting Actor), “The Exonerated” (Court TV), “Behind the Camera: Three’s Company” (NBC), “The Crooked E” (ABC), “A Season on the Brink” (ESPN), “Three Blind Mice” (CBS), “Death of a Salesman” (Showtime, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and an Emmy Award nomination for Best Actor) and “Thanks to a Grateful Nation” (Showtime).  

CARLA GUGINO (Abbie Putnam) made her Broadway debut in Roundabout Theatre Company's 2004 revival of Arthur Miller's After the Fall, for which she received an Outer Critic's Circle Award nomination and a Theater World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut for her role as Maggie. She followed that with her acclaimed portrayal of Catherine Holly in the Tennessee William's classic Suddenly Last Summer, also for Roundabout. Most recent film credits include American Gangster opposite Russell Crowe; Righteous Kill opposite Robert De Niro and Al Pacino; The Lookout; the Spy Kids Trilogy and Sin City, both directed by Robert Rodriguez; and Night at the Museum opposite Ben Stiller. She recently completed filming Watchmen and Race to Witch Mountain, both due out this spring. Other film credits include This Boy's Life, Miami Rhapsody, Brian De Palma's Snake Eyes opposite Nicolas Cage, Wayne Wang's Center of the World and The Singing Detective opposite Robert Downey, Jr. Television credits include the title character in the ABC series “Karen Sisco”, based on the Elmore Leonard novel Out of Sight, “Threshold” for CBS, “Chicago Hope” and “Spin City”. She can now be seen reprising her role on HBO's hit series “Entourage”.

PABLO SCHREIBER (Eben Cabot) received a Tony Award nomination for his Broadway debut in Awake and Sing! Other theater credits include reasons to be pretty at MCC Theatre; Dying City at Lincoln Center Theater; Mr. Marmalade at Roundabout Theatre Company; Manuscript at Daryl Roth Theatre; Sin: A Cardinal Deposed at The New Group; Blood Orange at Blue Heron Arts Center; and Julius Caesar at the New York Shakespeare Film Festival. Schreiber will be seen in the upcoming film Tell Tale directed by Michael Cuesta. Other film credits include Vicky Cristina Barcelona directed by Woody Allen, Nights in Rodanthe directed by George C. Wolfe, The Lords of Dogtown, The Manchurian Candidate, Breaking Upwards, Favorite Son, Into the Fire, The Mudge Boy and Invitation to a Suicide. Television credits include “The Beast”, “Life on Mars”, “Army Wives”, “Fear Itself”, “Dirt”, “The Wire”, John Grisham's “A Painted House”, “Law & Order”, “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”, and “The Black Donnellys”.

BORIS McGIVER (Peter Cabot) McGiver’s off-Broadway credits include The Overwhelming with Max Stafford-Clark at Roundabout Theatre Company; nine Shakespeare productions with Vanessa Redgrave, Mark Wing-Davey, Steven Berkoff, Brian Kulick and many others at The Public Theatre; Cymbeline with Bartlett Sher and Andorra with Liviu Ciulei at Theatre for a New Audience; Book of Days at Signature Theatre; More Lies About Jerzy at Vineyard Theatre; The Devils directed by Garland Wright and Lydie Breeze at New York Theatre Workshop; and Hapgood directed by Jack O’Brien at Lincoln Center Theater. McGiver’s film credits include The Clique, Dark Matter with Meryl Streep, Fur with Nicole Kidman, Pink Panther with Steve Martin, Taxi with Jimmy Fallon, Connie and Carla, Cradle Will Rock, Jesus’ Son with Billy Crudup, Little Odessa and Ironweed with Meryl Streep. Television credits include “John Adams” (HBO), “The Wire” (HBO), “Canterbury’s Law” (FOX) and “30 Rock” (NBC), among others.

DANIEL STEWART SHERMAN (Simeon Cabot) appeared on Broadway in Cyrano de Bergerac, A Touch of the Poet, Henry IV and The Full Monty. Off-Broadway credits include Guys and Dolls, The Mineola Twins and Corpus Christi; regional credits include Terra Nova, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) and Hamlet. Film credits include The Taking of Pelham 123, Gigantic, Pretty Bird, The Box, Capers, Redacted, Music and Lyrics, I Think I Love My Wife, Ordinary Sinner, Across the Universe, Wendigo and Monday Night Mahyem. Sherman’s television credits include “Law & Order”, “Gossip Girl”, “The Sopranos” and “Without a Trace”.

ROBERT FALLS (Director) has been the artistic director of Goodman Theatre since 1986. From 1977 to 1985, he was the artistic director of Wisdom Bridge Theatre. Two of his most highly acclaimed Broadway productions, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman and Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night (both starring his longtime collaborator Brian Dennehy), were honored with seven Tony Awards and three Drama Desk Awards. He has also collaborated with Dennehy on O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh, A Touch of the Poet and Brecht’s Galileo at the Goodman. Most recently, Falls directed Dennehy in Eugene O’Neill’s Hughie for Stratford Shakespeare Festival and Long Wharf Theatre. Last season, Mr. Falls re-mounted his Tony-nominated Broadway production of Conor McPherson’s Shining City for the Goodman and Boston’s Huntington Theatre. Prior to that, he directed the Tony-nominated Broadway revival of Eric Bogosian’s Talk Radio, starring Liev Schreiber. He also directed Stacy Keach in an explosive new production of King Lear for the Goodman that will be re-mounted for The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C., next summer. His production of Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida for Walt Disney Theatricals ran on Broadway, as well as toured nationally and abroad. Other recent Goodman productions include the world premiere of Arthur Miller’s final play, Finishing the Picture and the world premieres of Rebecca Gilman’s Blue Surge and Dollhouse; other Goodman credits include the world premieres of Griller, Book of the Night, The Speed of Darkness, On the Open Road and Riverview: A Melodrama with Music; the American premiere of Alan Ayckbourn’s House and Garden; Three Sisters; The Night of the Iguana; The Misanthrope; Pal Joey; and The Tempest. On Broadway, Falls directed Horton Foote’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Young Man from Atlanta and Steve Tesich’s The Speed of Darkness. Other credits include the world premiere of Eric Bogosian’s subUrbia at Lincoln Center Theater (Obie Award), The Rose Tattoo for Circle in the Square, The Iceman Cometh at Abbey Theatre in Dublin and The Night of the Iguana at Roundabout Theatre, as well as productions for Guthrie Theater, Remains Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Metropolitan Opera and the Grande Théâtre de Genève.