It’s not a musical adaptation, so relax!
In excellent news for fans of things that are completely awesome, Hollywood superstar Bruce Willis will be making his Broadway debut this fall in a stage adaptation of Stephen King’s Misery. The play has been written by Academy Award winner William Goldman who also adapted King’s book for the screen in 1990. Renowned theatre actress Elizabeth Marvel will co-star as Annie Wilkes, the “#1 fan” of Willis’s author character Paul Sheldon, and Will Frears will direct, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
It will be a departure for Willis to be sure as he was last seen in films like Vice, The Prince and Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For. THR notes that Willis was understudying Ed Harris back in a 1983 off-Broadway production of Fool for Love by Sam Shepard and hasn’t taken the stage since then. Stephen King adaptations are currently a hot commodity on film and television (well, when are they not?) so it makes perfect sense that the confined chamber piece would make its way to Broadway just in time for Halloween.
Fun fact: my high school produced a stage version of Misery and it works really well as a play! If you think about it there is only one major location, Paul’s bedroom inside Annie’s house, and two major roles. Unlike a lot of King’s other works, there aren’t many supernatural happenings or too much location hopping so it seems like a perfect fit for a small theater space. Plus, Willis has always been a pretty good actor when given the chance to stretch outside his action hero persona. I can’t wait to see this!
Theater-goers can look for Misery to make its debut this fall. The theater itself has not yet been announced.
