Some movie stars fill seats in the theater and then can’t deliver — but Cate Blanchett does both. From “Hedda Gabler” to “A Streetcar Named Desire” to 2012’s “Uncle Vanya,” her every appearance on a New York stage turned into a sold-out event.
So the Aussie’s return this summer — a high point of the just-announced 2014 Lincoln Center Festival — is a big deal.
Even more exciting is that the “Blue Jasmine” star will share the stage with another high-voltage actress: France’s Isabelle Huppert (“The Piano Teacher”).
The icing on the cake? Having the dynamic duo play perverse, manipulative sisters in a revival of Jean Genet’s provocative 1947 play “The Maids.”
The snazzy-looking production premiered in Sydney last June and runs at City Center Aug. 6 to 16.
Other festival highlights include Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s sprawling, avant-garde opera “The Passenger” taking over the Park Avenue Armory, and the first joint visit by the Bolshoi Ballet, Opera, Orchestra and Chorus.
That should be another lip-smacking delight, as the Bolshoi is known for high drama on stage and off: Last year, a disgruntled dancer set up a hit on the ballet’s artistic director, who was disfigured in an acid attack. You can’t make this stuff up.