TO the parade of great actors who’ve appeared on Broad way in the last few years — Patrick Stewart, Frank Langella, Richard Grif fiths, Geoffrey Rush — we may soon, if we’re lucky, be able to add . . . Ashton Kutcher!
Mr. Demi Moore, I’m told, is considering an offer to star in Neil LaBute‘s “Fat Pig.”
If he says yes, I think you can safely say that the Tony Award is going to be his to lose in 2010.
Can you imagine say, Daniel Craig or Hugh Jackman, both appearing in “A Steady Rain,” mounting much of a challenge to the star of “Dude, Where’s My Car?”
While Kutcher has no stage experience to speak of, he does Twitter. In fact, he became the first Twitterer to have more than 1 million followers.
And that makes him perfect for a LaBute play. After all, the audience at LaBute’s “reasons to be pretty” was encouraged to tweet during the show.
But why stop with the audience? The actors should Twitter, too.
“Hey, dudes, I’m in a play like right now!” Ashton could tweet when he doesn’t have any lines.
In “Fat Pig,” Kutcher would play Tom, a nice-looking guy who dates the sweet but heavyset Helen.
When Tom’s friends find out about the romance, they tease him mercilessly.
“Fat Pig” played off-Broadway five years ago. It starred Jeremy Piven, whose mercury levels back in those days were within the normal range.
The reviews were decent but, for various reasons, the production never transferred to Broadway.
Fran and Barry Weissler produced the play in London last year. The production, which LaBute directed, received glowing reviews, with some critics calling it his best play yet.
LaBute will direct the Broadway version as well.
Dates and a theater are yet to be determined. But keep your eye on Kutcher’s Twitter page. He’ll probably beat the arts bloggers to the punch with the official announcement.
ALSO on deck next season is a fine new play by Lee Hall, who won the Tony for his book to “Billy Elliot.”
“The Pitmen Painters” is based on the true story of a group of miners from Newcastle who, in the 1930s, formed an art appreciation club. Self-taught, they produced several paintings that impressed snooty art critics.
The play follows the group from its inception to the eventual breakup, caused, in part, by the attention the members received from the art world.
Hall has said of the miners: “Their lives seemed to make a good subject for the theater, a way of investigating some of the problems that culture brings if you’re coming from outside of it, as these guys clearly were. It’s sort of a parable.”
“The Pitmen Painters” was staged at London’s National Theatre last year and won the Evening Standard award for best new play.
Now that Equity has relaxed work rules concerning foreign actors, we may get to see several members of that superb British company, including Christopher Connel, Michael Hodgson, Ian Kelly and Brian Lonsdale.
All are actors to be reckoned with, although not one can hold a candle to Ashton Kutcher.
THE Players paid tribute Sun day night to veteran stage actor Brian Murray, now playing the Earl of Shrewsbury in Broadway’s “Mary Stuart.”
Edward Albee spoke movingly of Murray, who gave memorable performances in Albee’s “The Play About the Baby” and “Me, Myself and I.”
Albee said that Murray isn’t the kind of actor who “resembles” the characters he plays, but that the characters he plays come to “resemble” him.
“That,” said Albee, is the difference between “an OK actor and a great actor.”
I’m looking forward to The Players’ tribute to Ashton Kutcher, who, when he’s at his best, resembles an actor.