Danny DeVito will return to the Broadway stage this October in a new play by Theresa Rebeck called I Need That.
The It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia actor will star alongside his daughter Lucy DeVito and Ray Anthony Thomas in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of what the company describes as “a deeply human new comedy.”
Preview and opening night dates for I Need That at Roundabout’s American Airlines Theatre will be announced later.
The synopsis: Sam (DeVito) doesn’t get out much. Actually, he doesn’t get out at all, opting instead for the safety of his house in the company of his things – his many, many things. But when a notice from the government arrives alerting Sam that he must clean up his property or face eviction, he’s forced to reckon with what’s trash, what’s treasure, and whether we can ever know the difference between the two.
DeVito, best known of course for portraying Louie De Palma on the sitcom Taxi and, more recently, Frank Reynolds on the long-running It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, made his Broadway debut in 2017 in a Roundabout production of Arthur Miller’s The Price, earning a Tony nomination for his performance as the play’s Gregory Solomon.
Directing I Need That will be Moritz von Stuelpnagel, whose credits include the Broadway productions of Rebeck’s Bernhardt/Hamlet starring Janet McTeer; Noël Coward’s Present Laughter starring Kevin Kline; and Robert Askins’ Hand to God.
Ray Anthony Thomas has performed in such recent American Buffalo, Trouble In Mind, Jitney, The Crucible, and Race, and TV and film credits include New Amsterdam and The Rest Of Us, among others. Lucy DeVito is best known for her role as Stephanie Krause on the sitcom Melissa & Joey, with stage credits including Love, Loss, and What I Wore.
I Need That was announced today as part of Roundabout’s 2023-24 season, which will also include the spring Broadway staging of Home by Samm-Art Williams, to be directed by A Soldier’s Play‘s Kenny Leon. Originally staged by the Negro Ensemble Company in 1979 and given a Tony-nominated production at the Cort Theatre in 1980, Home tells the story of Cephus Miles as a man who “has the whole world in his callused hands – until his sweetheart Pattie Mae goes off to college and marries another man.”
The Roundabout’s Off Broadway productions scheduled for the 2023-24 season include:
- The Refuge Plays by Nathan Alan Davis, directed by Patricia McGregor directs. September 2023
- Covenant by York Walker, directed by Tiffany Nichole Greene. October 2023
- Jonah by Rachel Bonds, directed by Danya Taymor. Spring 2024