“American Buffalo” and “The Minutes” have rescheduled their Broadway dates to spring 2021.
The two plays, lead produced by Jeffrey Richards, were originally intended to open on Broadway in spring 2020. Now, the plays have moved their dates exactly one year from initially scheduled, with “American Buffalo” set to open at Circle in the Square Theatre on April 14, 2021 and “The Minutes” scheduled to open at the Cort Theatre on March 15.
The returning casts for both plays have not yet been confirmed. The cast of “American Buffalo,” written by David Mamet and directed by Neil Pepe, was originally annoucned to star Laurence Fishburne, Sam Rockwell and Darren Criss. “The Minutes,” written by Tracy Letts and directed by Anna D. Shapiro, includes Ian Barford, Blair Brown, Cliff Chamberlain, K. Todd Freeman, Armie Hammer, Letts, Danny McCarthy, Jessie Mueller, Sally Murphy, Austin Pendleton and Jeff Still.
“The Minutes” played 19 preview performances before the Broadway shutdown on March 12. It was intended as a limited engagement and originally scheduled to close on July 26. “American Buffalo” never began previews.
Now, “American Buffalo” is scheduled to begin previews on March 22, 2021 and “The Minutes” is scheduled for March 1.
The rescheduled dates follow announcements Wednesday from “The Music Man” and “Flying Over Sunset,” which are both aiming for spring opening dates. “Plaza Suite” and “MJ” previously announced rescheduled dates beginning in March 2021.
Still, the producing teams of “American Buffalo” and “The Minutes” note that their preview and opening dates are dependent on government regulation and the presence of a COVID-19 vaccine.
“It is the intent to open these plays—both powerful, funny and relevant dissections of Americana—in the spring of 2021, on the exact dates they were scheduled to open in 2020. However, we will only do so knowing that there are safeguards in place that will encourage audiences to return to the theatre, and that our government will allow us to have gatherings of more than 500 people. We, the producing team, believe that a vaccine is essential as part of that process, and we are hopeful that progress will be made in that area to ensure that artists and theatregoers will return to support this vital element of our theatrical heritage: the American play,” the producers said in a statement.
