Name: Julia Roberts Age: Ageless, so far Nationality: American Claim to fame: The Hollywood queen conquers Broadway
She smiles to conquer. And the fact that she has loads of talent and oodles of charm makes it easy for her to become one of the most sought-after actresses around. She is Julia Roberts, the one with a 1000 watt and million dollar smile.
After almost a year and a half of time off from work since the birth of her 16-month-old twins, Phinnaeus and Hazel, Julia can now be seen by her fans, not in a movie but on stage in Broadway. The Hollywood screen queen is making a debut on stage in Richard Greenberg’s Pulitzer Prize nominated play, Three Days of Rain. The preview of the play, eight performances that began March 28, played to 101 per cent capacity, including standing room, at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. Also starring Paul Rudd and Bradley Cooper, the previews grossed a whopping $988,298 for its first full week of preview performances. Tickets for Roberts’ Broadway debut, which opens April 19 for the 12-week-run, are almost sold out, and some available on the net for the opening weekend are listed for as much as $999!
The play, which is a drama about a brother and sister who meet up with a childhood friend for the reading of a will, sees Roberts play Nan in the first act and then her mother in the second act that takes place a generation earlier. Those who saw the preview are all singing her praise and the first few lines of her dialogues were all drowned in applause on the first day. Julia has no theatre experience to fall back on but so far she handled things as smoothly as a pro. However, what treatment she receives from the critics has to be seen as the Broadway folks, particularly the press, are pretty snobs and many Hollywood favourites have flopped badly at stage. Last season, Denzel Washington found little praise in Broadway when he appeared in Julius Caesar and Madonna too found it hard to get any notable reviews for her Broadway appearance. But then she has hardly received any praise for her screen performances too.
But Julia Roberts seems to have wooed Broadway and this venture will only add to her stature as an actress who is more than a pretty woman. And in this play she has plenty of support for a talented team — director Mantello is one of Broadway’s most sought after talents and playwright Greenberg won the 2003 Tony Award for Take Me Out. With Three Days of Rain, Julia must be hoping for a Tony to place alongside her Oscar.
Julia Roberts is not the only Hollywood star to be seen on New York stage this season, there are others like Alec Baldwin, David Schwimmer and Amanda Peet. But none are first timers like Roberts and not as big as her. Currently, she is in the league of the few females to get 20 million dollars plus pay cheque for a movie. And for many of her fans, seeing her up, close and in person just a few feet away rather than on the screen must be enough to pull them to the theatre. — Faraz-ul-Imam n
Name: Julia Roberts
