Frank Langella to return to Broadway in ‘The Father’

Three-time Tony victor Frank Langella will have a chance to add a fourth trophy to his mantle this spring, with the actor now set to star on Broadway in Florian Zeller’s play “The Father”.

Langella, whose most recent Broadway credit was “Man and Boy” in 2012, won the Tony for lead actor in his 2007 outing “Frost/Nixon“, and also picked up featured actor prizes for “Fortune’s Fool” (in 2002) and “Seascape” (in 1975). His last New York stage role was King Lear, in 2013, in a production that played at the Brooklyn Academy of Music as well as the U.K.’s Chichester Shakespeare Festival.

Beginning previews March 22, 2016, and opening April 12 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, the Broadway production will be directed by Doug Hughes and will be produced under the auspices of the Manhattan Theatre Club.

Zeller’s play (which bears no relation to the August Strindberg project of the same name) tells the story of Andre (Langella), a father who is struggling with dementia while living with his daughter and her husband. Two-time Tony Award victor Christopher Hampton translated the play into English.

The Father has already recieved critical acclaim overseas, and a limited-run West End transfer of the production will be unveiled this fall. Or is he a retired engineer receiving a visit from Anne who has moved away with her boyfriend? He and director Hughes collaborated on Roundabout’s 2008 revival of A Man for All Seasons. “And where has he left his watch?”

Additional casting and creative-team information will be announced in the coming months.