Clive Owen will star in M. Butterfly on Broadway this fall
By: David Sheward
Clive Owen, last seen on Broadway in Harold Pinter’s Old Times, will return in a new production of David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly, directed by Julie Taymor in her first Broadway staging since being dismissed from Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. (Her interpretation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream played Off-Broadway.) M. Butterfly will open Oct. 26, 2017 at a theater to be announced. The original 1988 production made a star out of B.D. Wong as Song Liling, a Chinese opera singer engaged in an affair with a French diplomat played by John Lithgow. Based on a true story, the 20-year relationship shocked international circles when it was revealed Song was really a man. This new production will new include new material based on information about the case that has come to light since the original staging which won the Tony and Drama Desk Award for Best Play and ran for 777 performances (a rare long run for a non-musical).
Also in the works, but in a much earlier stage of development, is a musical version of The Devil Wears Prada, Lauren Weisenberger’s autobiographical novel about an assistant to a high-powered fashion magazine editor not unlike Vogue’s Anna Wintour. Sir Elton John, whose previous theatrical musical ventures include Aida, The Lion King and Billy Elliot, will write the music. Paul Rudnick (Jeffrey, I Hate Hamlet, Addams Family Values) will make his debut as a musical book-writer and lyricist. Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, and Emily Blunt starred in the 2000 film version.

Here is a rundown of upcoming Broadway and Off-Broadway openings for the remainder of the 2016-17 season and beyond:
Feb. 15–Man from Nebraska (Second Stage)
Feb. 16–Evening at the Talk House (New Group/Signature Theatre)
Feb. 21–Everybody (Signature)
Feb. 22–If I Forget (Roundabout/Laura Pels)
Feb. 22–Kid Victory (Vineyard)
Feb. 23–Sunday in the Park with George (Hudson)
Feb. 23–Linda (MTC/City Center)
Feb. 27–The Penitent (Atlantic Theatre Co.)
Feb. 27–Wakey Wakey (Signature)
March 1–Sweeney Todd (Barrow Street)
March 1–All the Fine Boys (New Group/Signature)
March 2–Significant Other (Booth)
March 9–The Glass Menagerie (Golden)
March 13–The Light Years (Playwrights Horizons)
March 15–Joan of Arc: Into the Fire (Public)
March 20–How to Transcend a Happy Marriage (LCT/Mitzi Newhouse)
March 26–Sweat (Studio 54)
March 26–Come Back, Little Sheba/Picnic (Transport Group/The Gym at Judson)
April 2–The Play That Goes Wrong (Lyceum)
April 3–Amelie (Walter Kerr)
April 5–Gently Down the Stream (Public)
April 17–Groundhog Day (August Wilson)
April 18–Indecent (Cort)
April 25–Six Degrees of Separation (Barrymore)
April 26–The Bandstand (Bernard Jacobs)
June 29–Marvin’s Room (Roundabout/AA)
Aug. 24–Prince of Broadway (MTC/Samuel J. Friedman)
Oct. 26– M. Butterfly (Theater TBA)
Future–The Cher Show, The Devil Wears Prada
2016-17 Broadway Season
New Plays
The Encounter
Indecent
The Play That Goes Wrong
Sweat
The Bandstand
Groundhog Day
War Paint
Present Laughter
Six Degrees of Separation
Sunday in the Park with George
Sunset Boulevard
Kristin Chenoweth: My Love Letter to Broadway
Oh Hello on Broadway
Originally Published on February 1, 2017 in The David Desk 2