The producing team behind Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the most successful American play in Broadway history, today unveiled a new video commemorating and celebrating Broadway’s historic return. The two-minute video features an original script written by playwright, Aaron Sorkin, and voiced by Tony Award nominated and Emmy Award-winning star, Jeff Daniels.
Producer Orin Wolf commented, "The reopening of Broadway is an essential and herculean task. We are grateful that Aaron Sorkin was inspired to write this short piece celebrating the moment and that Jeff was able to lend his voice. It’s especially exciting that a play is able to help carry this message in a season when so many plays are opening and so deserve the attention."
As previously announced, To Kill a Mockingbird is set to resume performances on Broadway on Tuesday, October 5, 2021, at the Shubert Theatre. Mr. Daniels will reprise his originating and iconic turn as ‘Atticus Finch’ and Celia Keenan-Bolger willreturn to her Tony Award-winning performance as ‘Scout Finch’ in Mr. Sorkin’s new play with direction by Bartlett Sher.
In a statement, Mr. Sorkin said, “After well over a year of darkness, Broadway is roaring back to life. It’s a historic moment for everyone who cares about this community, this city, or this ancient tradition of telling stories on stage. I feel deeply connected to all three, and I felt a strong desire to mark the occasion. This short film is the result, and I hope it helps galvanize the artists and audiences who fill Times Square eight times each week.”
To Kill a Mockingbird has amassed a total gross of more than $125,000,000, and before the Broadway shutdown, continuously played to standing-room-only houses. Since performances began on Thursday, November 1, 2018, the production has not played to an empty seat, with capacity remaining over 100% for every performance. On February 26, 2020, the cast of To Kill a Mockingbird gave a history-making performance of the play at Madison Square Garden, for 18,000 New York City school kids. This was the largest single performance of a theatrical work in the history of world theater. In 2019, to culminate National “Theatre In Our Schools” month, Mr. Sorkin, Mr. Daniels, Mr. Sher, and members of the Broadway cast of To Kill a Mockingbird took the play to Washington, D.C. for an unprecedented special presentation at the Library of Congress, in partnership with the Educational Theatre Association. Speaker Nancy Pelosi was the special guest, opening the event alongside Dr. Carla Diane Hayden, Librarian of Congress (the first woman in our nation’s history to hold the coveted position).
To Kill a Mockingbird will launch its coast-to-coast National Tour on March 27, 2022 at Shea’s Performing Arts Center in Buffalo, NY, followed by the official tour opening on April 5, 2022 at the Citizens Bank Opera House in Boston, MA, starring Emmy Award winner Richard Thomas as ‘Atticus Finch’; and will begin performances in London’s West End at the Gielgud Theatre on March 10, 2022, starring Rafe Spall.