A boisterous reimagining of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing,” starring two “Avengers” alumni and centering on the comedy’s revelry, will be staged on Broadway this fall.
The production, which had a successful run in London last year, will star Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell, two accomplished stage actors who also have action-adventure chops. The show is being directed by Jamie Lloyd, whose five previous Broadway outings included this season’s “Waiting for Godot” and last season’s “Sunset Boulevard.”
The new “Much Ado” is scheduled to have a short run — just 10 weeks. Lloyd, who is also producing the show, announced the run on Thursday, but did not specify the exact dates or theater — only that it would run this fall at a house operated by the Shubert Organization.
Hiddleston, best known for playing Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was nominated for a Tony Award for his one previous Broadway show, a 2019 revival of Pinter’s “Betrayal” that was also directed by Lloyd. Atwell played Agent Peggy Carter in the Marvel universe (she and Hiddleston both appeared in “Avengers: Endgame,” although not together), and is also known for playing Grace in the “Mission: Impossible” films; she has significant London stage experience, but “Much Ado” will be her Broadway debut.
“Much Ado About Nothing,” usually dated to the 1590s, is a romantic comedy with a Shakespearean stew of ruses and mayhem; it was last staged on Broadway in 1984. Hiddleston and Atwell will play a pair of reluctant lovers, Benedick and Beatrice. (In this version, the romantic combatants are more seasoned than some — Hiddleston is 45 and Atwell is 43.)
This production has the sights and sounds of a ’90s party, with house music and headdresses and hedonism (plus a lot of pink confetti). Although there are many ways in which such a conceit could go awry, the British critics were generally smitten. “Thoroughly weird and absolutely wonderful,” The Guardian said in a five-star review. Time Out London, in another five-star review, declared it “a ridiculous, ecstatic, hilarious masterpiece,” while The Telegraph, also giving it five stars, called it “bonkers but brilliantly inventive.”
Michael Paulson is the theater reporter for The Times.
The post Pop Songs, Pink Confetti and Avengers: Shakespeare Returns to Broadway appeared first on New York Times.
