The Mountaintop to make Broadway transition
22nd June 2011
Katori Hall's Olivier Award-winning play The Mountaintop is to make the transition to Broadway, following a successful run in London's West End.
The play, which portrays the final days of Martin Luther King's life before he was assassinated in 1968, will star Samuel L Jackson and Angela Bassett when it debuts in New York.
Critics and audiences alike heaped praise on The Mountaintop during its 2009 run in London, with the production going on to win best new play at the Olivier Awards.
Producers Jean Doumanian and Sonia Friedman said the fact that Samuel L Jackson will make his Broadway debut in the play highlights its popularity and significance.
'These two remarkable actors have excited audiences around the world for many years, and bringing them together in this extraordinary new play on Broadway promises to be a major highlight of the season,' they said in a statement.
The first New York performance of the play will take place in September at the Bernard B Jacobs Theatre, with Jackson portraying King and Bassett playing a mysterious woman who visits him the night before his death.