London Smash ‘The Inheritance’ Confirms Fall Broadway Run

One of the most acclaimed new dramas to premiere on London stages in recent years, Matthew Lopez’s The Inheritance has locked in Broadway plans for this fall, producers Tom Kirdahy, Sonia Friedman Productions and Hunter Arnold announced today.

Winner of four 2019 Olivier Awards, including best new play and best director for Stephen Daldry, the sprawling two-part humanistic tapestry traces echoes of the E.M. Forster novel Howards End in 21st century New York. It follows the interlinked lives of three generations of young gay Manhattan men seeking to define their identities, their place in the community and the debt they owe to those who came before and fought — and during the AIDS crisis, died — for their rights.

While casting for the Broadway transfer is to be announced, the London ensemble featured John Benjamin Hickey, Vanessa Redgrave, Paul Hilton and relative newcomer Kyle Soller, who beat out such stage luminaries as Ian McKellen, Simon Russell Beale and David Suchet to take best actor at the Oliviers.

Reviewing the play in The Guardian, Michael Billington called it “a rollercoaster epic” that “pierces your emotional defenses, raises any number of political issues and enfolds you in its narrative.”

The production will mark the Broadway debut for Lopez, whose widely produced previous plays include The Whipping Man and The Legend of Georgia McBride. It begins previews Sept. 27 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, ahead of a Nov. 17 official opening.

The Inheritance premiered in London at the Young Vic in March last year before transferring to a limited West End engagement in the fall. Daldry will reassemble the original creative team for New York, including set and costume designer Bob Crowley, lighting designer Jon Clark, sound designer Paul Arditti and composer Paul Englishby.

Daldry is a two-time Tony Award winner, landing best direction of a play in 1994 for An Inspector Calls and best direction of a musical in 2009 for Billy Elliot. He returned to Broadway twice in 2015, with Peter Morgan’s The Audience, starring Helen Mirren; and David Hare’s Skylight, starring Carey Mulligan and Bill Nighy. 

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