The Lincoln Center Theater production is now playing at New York City’s Vivian Beaumont Theater
Take a bow, !
The Oscar-winning actor, 59, on Monday, Sept. 30 was all smiles as he celebrated the opening of , the new play by Pulitzer Prize-winner Ayad Akhtar now running at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in New York City.
He had a lot of reasons to do such. Not only does the production mark Downey’s Broadway debut after five decades in the industry, but his performance also garnered by critics, with calling him a “commanding presence onstage.”
The play stars Downey as Jacob McNeal, a prolific scribe and perpetual candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature. But as the synopsis teases, “Good writers borrow, great writers steal [and] Jacob McNeal is a great writer.”
With “an estranged son, a new novel, old axes to grind and an unhealthy fascination with Artificial Intelligence,” Downey’s character has a lot to manage amid this “startling and wickedly smart examination of the inescapable humanity – and increasing inhumanity – of the stories we tell.”
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In addition to Downey, McNeal‘s cast includes Brittany Bellizeare, Rafi Gavron, , , and Saisha Talwar.
Direction comes from Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher, whose recent credits include the 2018 revival of My Fair Lady and the 2023 play Pictures From Home.
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Downey — who is also producing McNeal in association with Lincoln Center Theater through Team Downey, the company he shares with his wife Susan Downey — has had nearly 100 film and television credits over his long career. Memorable roles include in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Sherlock Holmes in two films, plus his Oscar-nominated turns in Chaplin (1992) and Tropic Thunder (2008). He won his Academy Award for playing Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer (2023).
The actor last stared on the HBO series The Sympathizer in multiple roles. Last March, he told PEOPLE he had .
“I got a couple other tricks up my sleeve,” he teased at the time.
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Though this is RDJ’s first time on Broadway, he’s done theater before. “It’s been 40 years since I was last on ‘the boards,’ but hopefully I’ll knock the dust off quick,” back in May, when his role was announced. “McNeal is a timely and important story about the future of creatives, and I intend to do it justice.”
are now on sale. The play is currently set for a limited engagement through Nov. 24.
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