Cate Blanchett to make Broadway debut in updated Chekhov play

Blanchett will make her Broadway debut in her husband Andrew Upton’s The Present, an adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s first play, Platonov. The Sydney Theatre Company production played a sold-out engagement in Australia in August 2016 and will come to Broadway for a limited run in early winter 2016.

Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh, who co-headlined the all-Australian cast, will return for the Broadway run, as directed by John Crowley, who recently directed the Oscar-nominated Brooklyn.

The Present is set during the birthday party of conflicted widow Anna Petrovna (Blanchett) in the Russian countryside in the mid ‘90s. Friends of Anna — including acerbic Platonov (Roxburgh) and his wife — arrive to celebrate Anna’s birthday and unravel two decades of messy relationships, regrets, and desires.

Though the play marks Blanchett’s Broadway debut, she’s appeared on the New York stage in The Maids, Hedda Gabler, A Streetcar Named Desire,and Upton’s adaptation of Uncle Vanya, opposite Roxburgh.

Additional casting, an opening date, and a theater will be announced soon.