"brilliant, sprawling...a rich pageant"

It has just come to my attention that the Lincoln Center Theater version of The Coast of Utopia, published by Grove Press, is scheduled to be released on October 10. The book, which includes all three plays in a single volume, will feature an introduction by Tom Stoppard. Here is how it is described at Amazon.com:

Tom Stoppard’s magnificent trilogy, The Coast of Utopia, was the most keenly awaited and successful drama of 2007. Now “Stoppard’s crowning achievement” (David Cote, Time Out New York) has been collected in one volume, with an introduction by the author, and includes the definitive text used during Lincoln Center’s recent celebrated run. The Coast of Utopia comprises three sequential plays that chronicle the story of a group of friends who come of age under the Tsarist autocracy of Nicholas I, and for whom the term “intelligentsia” was coined. Among them are the anarchist Michael Bakunin, who was to challenge Marx for the soul of the masses; Ivan Turgenev, author of some of the most enduring works in Russian literature; the brilliant, erratic young critic Vissarion Belinsky; and Alexander Herzen, a nobleman's son and the first self-proclaimed socialist in Russia, who becomes the main focus of this drama of politics, love, loss, and betrayal. In The Coast of Utopia, Stoppard presents an inspired examination of the struggle between romantic anarchy, utopian idealism, and practical reformation in what The New York Times calls “brilliant, sprawling . . . a rich pageant.”

Go to Amazon.com to pre-order your copy today.

Speaking of The Coast of Utopia, the Chicago Sun-Times has an interesting article about "Broadway's Golden Guy," Jack O'Brien.

[...] Though O'Brien has won Tony Awards for directing "Hairspray" and "Henry IV," he seems most proud of this year's win for "The Coast of Utopia," Tom Stoppard's massive three-part epic steeped in Russian history and philosophy. He is known as a director actors love to work with.

"I find him wildly inspiring," said actor Ethan Hawke, who worked with O'Brien on "Utopia" and "Henry IV." "He's a master craftsman but he's not an intellectual. He doesn't approach things in a heady way but rather from the gut with a lot of compassion. And that's what made him such a good combination with Stoppard."

O'Brien is currently workshopping a new musical based on the Tom Hanks-Leonardo Dicaprio movie "Catch Me If You Can." Chicago is reportedly in the running as a tryout city if and when the musical gets to a pre-Broadway run. [...]

And, at BroadwayWorld, Jewishboy counts Jennifer Ehle's performance in The Coast of Utopia as one of the best performances he's seen.

Moving on from The Coast...

A short interview clip of Colin Farrell on the set of Pride and Glory can be found at Youtube.

And, here's a reminder to all Jane Austen fans that the movie Becoming Jane will be released in the US on August 3 (limited) and August 10 (nationwide). See IMDB for the international release dates and more information about the film. You can also find photos, trailers, cast information, etc at this website, and some on-the-set interviews and clips have been posted at Youtube. Also at Youtube, Bettielover posts another trailer and proclaims, "I long for Jennifer Ehle (the only possible Jane)." Ah, if only...