Danny and the Deep Blue Sea – West Village, New York
I’m flying from Chicago to NYC this fall to see Aubrey Plaza kick off her theater career in “Danny And The Deep Blue Sea”.
Excited to have scored front row seats in such an intimate and charming theater like the Lucille Lortel Theatre for this show. I haven’t been to NYC in a very long time and am excited to come back for a few nights.
“The equivalent of sitting at ringside watching a prize fight.”
The New York Times
The Off-Broadway event that delves into the depths of our souls.
SYNOPSIS:
Have you ever been caught in an earthquake? A chance meeting. A dive bar. Some encounters are so dangerous and so beautiful, they redefine the meaning of love. Follow two desperate people in the Bronx, Danny and Roberta, as they walk the line between destruction and transcendence.
Aubrey Plaza and Christopher Abbott star in John Patrick Shanley’s breakthrough play “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea,” a searing portrayal of the imperceptible space between joy and pain.
The drama returns to New York for a limited time only with its enduring message about the importance of human connection. Don’t miss the chance to see these screen stars in this blistering two-hander in the heart of the West Village.
Plaza is Roberta, a divorcée with a teenage son, while Abbott plays Danny, a brooding loner who lives with his mother. Both are haunted by their pasts, and when the two strangers sidle up to a bar in the Bronx, they compare scars over beers. The unlikely pair uncover their deepest, darkest truths, carving out space for empathy — and maybe more.
“Danny and the Deep Blue Sea” is a gripping, early drama from John Patrick Shanley, the celebrated writer of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award®-winning “Doubt: A Parable.”
Get tickets today to see the must-see theatre event of the fall, running for 10 weeks only at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.
Tickets: www.dannyandthedeepbluesea.com
Aubrey Plaza is heading from Sicily to the New York City stage. Come November 13, the White Lotus Emmy nominee will be making her stage debut in Danny and the Deep Blue Sea alongside Girls alum Christopher Abbott, and she’s officially kicking off her theater career with a good one.
“It’s an actor’s dream play,” Plaza tells Vanity Fair matter-of-factly.
Written by John Patrick Shanley, who won the best-screenplay Oscar for Moonstruck and a Pulitzer Prize and best-play Tony for Doubt: A Parable, the one-act play follows Danny and Roberta, two broken people who meet by chance at a bar in the Bronx.
Abbott, who has been a regular player in the off-Broadway theater circuit for quite some time, has long considered Danny and the Deep Blue Sea to be one of his favorite plays, and was a champion in bringing it back to life.
“Chris sent me the play last year, and as soon as I read it, I knew we had to do it,” Plaza says. “I couldn’t pass up Shanley’s dialogue! It is so fun and juicy, and the characters are tragic and beautiful.”
Between Jeff Ward’s stage directorial debut and working with Plaza, Abbott feels like he hit the theater jackpot. “Everyone on this team is a dream,” he says. “To get to work with Aubrey and Jeff on this every day feels like we tricked the system somehow.” Danny and the Deep Blue Sea first premiered in 1983, with John Turturro and June Stein originating the roles Abbott and Plaza will be taking on. “I feel incredibly lucky to be working with actors who are as extraordinary as Chris and Aubrey, and the fact that we are also great friends has only made the process that much more rewarding,” says Ward. “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea is such a timeless and deeply resonant play.”
This fall’s adaptation, which begins previews on October 30 and opens November 13, will take place at the jewel box Lucille Lortel Theatre in Manhattan’s West Village. It will have a limited 10-week run. “The process will be the joy, and doing a show that people will be moved by will be the hope,” says Abbott. “I can’t wait to start.”
Source: Vanity Fair
Directed by Jeff Ward
Scenic Design by Scott Pask
Lighting Design by John Torres
Costume Design by Arianne Phillips
Sound Design by Kate Marvin
Starring Aubrey Plaza and Christopher Abbott
Playwright: John Patrick Shanley
First Preview: October 30, 2023
Opening Date: November 13, 2023
Closing Date: January 13, 2024
Running time: 80 minutes, no intermission
Age recommendation: 14 +
