Nica Burns today announces world premiere of Brokeback Mountain, a new play with music, written by Ashley Robinson with songs by Dan Gillespie Sells based on Annie Proulx’s short story.
Directed by Jonathan Butterell, Brokeback Mountain stars Mike Faist as Jack and Lucas Hedges as Ennis, both making their West End stage debuts. The production sees Jonathan Butterell and Dan Gillespie Sells (The Feeling), creators of the hit musical and film Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, reuniting with Producer Nica Burns.
Brokeback Mountain @sohoplace opens on 10 May, with press night on 18 May, and runs for a limited season until 12 August 2023.
Wyoming 1963: a wild landscape where people live in extreme rural poverty in tight, insular and conservative communities. When Ennis and Jack take jobs on the isolated Brokeback Mountain, all their certainties of life change forever as they flounder in unexpected emotional waters of increasing depth. Dan Gillespie-Sells beautiful Country and Western songs weave heartbreakingly through this intense tale of an irresistible and hidden love spanning twenty years and its tragic consequences.
This is a play with original music by Dan Gillespie Sells, performed by the extraordinary singer, Eddi Reader, joined by her onstage Country and Western band: Sean Green (piano/MD), Meelie Traill (upright bass), Julian Jackson (chromatic harmonica), BJ Cole (pedal steel guitar).
Annie Proulx said: “Brokeback Mountain has been recreated in several different forms, each with its own distinctive moods and impact. Ashley’s script is fresh and deeply moving, opening sight lines not visible in the original nor successive treatments.”
Nica Burns, Producer, said: “I am excited that our fourth production @sohoplace, Brokeback Mountain, is our first world premiere. In the intimate, intense auditorium that is @sohoplace, our production concentrates on the relationship between our two lead characters with Eddi Reader’s memorable voice adding to the heartbreak as the soundtrack of their lives. To have Mike Faist and Lucas Hedges, two outstanding young American actors playing Jack and Ennis is a real coup. We are thrilled.”
