Faye Dunaway to Play Katharine Hepburn on Broadway

By Brent Lang

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Faye Dunaway will return to Broadway to play another acting diva. The Oscar-winner is set to portray Katharine Hepburn in “Tea at Five,” a one-woman play that charts the movie legend’s career over the course of a winding monologue.

Dunaway last appeared on Broadway in 1982’s “The Curse of the Aching Heart.” In the 1990s, she was in the touring production of “Master Class,” a play that found her channeling Maria Callas. Dunaway was also once slated to portray Norma Desmond in the Los Angeles production of “Sunset Boulevard,” but she was fired with the producers citing “her lack of singing ability.”

Dunaway is best known for her screen work in the likes of “Bonnie & Clyde,” “Chinatown,” and “Network,” a satire that is currently enjoying a second life as a Broadway play. Dunaway was nominated for Oscars for all three films, picking up a statue for “Network.” The actress made headlines at the 2017 Oscars when she and Warren Beatty were handed the wrong envelope and mistakenly announced the wrong best picture winner. They were given another chance to unveil the winner at this year’s telecast, getting it right on their second outing.

It will mark the Broadway premiere of “Tea at Five.” Playwright Matthew Lombardo has crafted a new version of the play for this production, which will be directed by Tony nominee John Tillinger. Kate Mulgrew (“Star Trek: Voyager”) portrayed Hepburn in the original 2002 staging. A theater will be announced early next year.