Debra Messing will return to Broadway in Noah Haidle’s play “Birthday Candles.”
The play, directed by Vivienne Benesch and produced by Roundabout Theatre Company, will begin preview performances on April 2, 2020 and open on April 21.
This is the Broadway debut for Haidle, whose previous play “Mr. Marmalade,” starring Mamie Gummer and Michael C. Hall, had an off-Broadway run at Roundabout’s Laura Pels Theatre in 2005. “Birthday Candles” was commissioned and originally produced by Detroit Public Theatre in 2018.
Messing, known for her role on the television show “Will and Grace,” last appeared on Broadway in John Patrick Shanley’s play “Outside Mullingar” in 2014.
The play follows Messing, as Ernestine Ashworth, as she celebrates decades of birthdays surrounded by an evolving array of family members.
This is also the Broadway directing debut for Benesch, who is the producing artistic director of PlayMakers Repertory Company in Chapel Hill, NC and an actress who has worked off-Broadway and on Broadway, including in Roundabout’s 2004 production of “After the Fall.”
Additional cast members and creative team members will be announced at a later date.
