“Room,” a new play with music based on Emma Donoghue’s eponymous novel, will open on Broadway in the spring.
The limited run is slated to begin performances on April 3 ahead of an official opening night on April 17 at the James Earl Jones Theatre. The production is set to play through Sept. 17.
Directed by Cora Bissett, “Room” will feature songs and music by Bissett and Kathryn Joseph and a script by Donoghue. Bissett was the one who first approached the author about adapting the best-selling novel for the stage.
“Room” marks Bissett, Joseph and Donoghue’s Broadway debuts. Bissett served as the associate director at the National Theatre of Scotland from 2014-2022. She is a director, actor and songwriter. Joseph is a Scottish singer-songwriter who won the Scottish Album of the Year Award in 2015 for her record “Bones You Have Thrown Me and Blood I’ve Spilled.”
Tony Award winner Adrienne Warren will lead the cast as Ma. Warren last appeared on Broadway in “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical,” earning a Tony Award for her performance in the title role. Additional casting will be announced. Casting is by Jim Carnahan Casting.
The creative team includes set and costume designer Lily Arnold and video and projection designer Andrzej Goulding. ShowTown Theatricals will serve as general manager. Additional creative team members are forthcoming.
“Room” tells the story of Ma, who was kidnapped as a teenage girl and has been living in a room built by her captor for seven years. ow Ma and her five-year-old son Jack have created a world inside Room, with “friends” like Lamp and Rug. But the time has come for the two to escape and face the world outside.
Donoghue previously adapted her book into a film, which earned a 2016 Oscar nomination for its adapted screenplay.
The stage production had its world premiere in 2017 at London’s Theatre Royal Stratford East. Subsequent productions followed at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, Ireland; the National Theatre of Scotland; the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario; and the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto, Ontario.
“Room” is produced on Broadway by Sam Julyan, James Yeoburn, ShowTown Productions and Hunter Arnold.
