The box office for Jamie Wax's Call Me Izzy, set to star six-time Emmy winner Jean Smart (Hacks, Designing Women), will open May 5 at 10 AM with a special ticket offer. The first 100 ticket buyers in line at Studio 54 will be able to buy $25 tickets for the production's first two previews, with a limit of two per person.
Sarna Lapine (Sunday in the Park With George) is directing the solo play, running for a 12-week limited engagement beginning May 24 ahead of a June 12 opening. Performances will continue through August 17.
The work tracks a woman in rural Louisiana who's trapped in an abusive marriage who finds possible escape through writing poetry. The performance will be Smart's first Broadway outing in 25 years, having last been on the boards with a Tony-nominated performance opposite Nathan Lane in a 2000 revival of The Man Who Came to Dinner.
The production will feature scenic design by Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams, lighting design by Donald Holder, costume design by Tom Broecker, and sound design by Beth Lake. Casting is by Caparelliotis Castings' David Caparelliotis and Joseph Gery. Howard Tilkin will serve as production stage manager.
Smart earned her most recent three Emmy Awards playing fictional, Joan Rivers–like comedian Deborah Vance on the HBO Max series Hacks, which tracks the comic's attempt to revive her career through a contentious relationship with a young writer. A 2021 Emmy win for the performance made her only the second actor in history (after Betty White) to win an Emmy in the comedy lead, supporting, and guest categories; as well as putting her on a short list of actors who have won all five major TV awards (Emmy, Golden Globe, the SAG, Critics' Choice, and Television Critics Association) in one TV season. The series' fourth season, which sees Deborah navigating hosting a late-night series on network TV, is currently streaming.
Wax is a comic, solo performer, playwright, journalist, and actor, whose writing credits include the musicals Evangeline and Passages (both written with composer Paul Taranto). Call Me Izzy, which he's been developing with Smart for several years, will be his Broadway debut.
Robert Ahrens is producing with P3 Productions' Ben Holtzman, Sammy Lopez, and Fiona Howe Rudin. Though performing at Studio 54, the play is not a Roundabout Theatre Company production.
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