Laurie Metcalf and John Lithgow, both two-time Tony Award winners, will team up on Broadway to play the power couple who have been a prominent part of the American political landscape for nearly three decades.
Hillary and Clinton, by Lucas Hnath, author of A Doll’s House, Part 2, is slated to open on Broadway in Spring 2019.
The play is set in New Hampshire during the early days of 2008 as Hillary Clinton tries to save her troubled campaign for the democratic presidential nominee.
Clinton, her husband Bill and chief strategist Mark J Penn are fighting over whether it would be helpful or harmful to have Bill, a former President, step in to help out.
Barack Obama appears in the play, but the Hollywood Reporter says he does not get a name and is referred to only as “The Other Guy.”
Producer Scott Rudin says while the play is about politics, it delves much deeper into the idea of power in more relatable situations, like marriage.
“It’s a political play — but not in the way I think anybody will expect,” he told the Hollywood reporter. “It treats the Clintons like Shakespeare treated real people in his history plays — it is both fundamentally truthful and also wildly imaginative.”
The play starts previews March 16 ahead of an April 18 opening at a Broadway theater to be announced, along with casting of the remaining roles.
The production will be eligible for 2019 Tony Awards consideration, giving Metcalf a shot at three in a row. The play will feature set design by Chloe Lamford, costumes by Ann Roth and lighting by Hugh Vanstone.