Forest Whitaker to make his Broadway debut in the revival of Eugene O'Neill's 'Hughie'

NEW YORK, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- Oscar-winning film star Forest Whitaker is to make his Broadway debut in the revival of Eugene O'Neill's Hughie, the play's producers said Monday.

The drama will be helmed by Michael Grandage and will play a strictly limited engagement in the spring of 2016 at a Shubert theater to be announced.

Darren Bagert, Michael Grandage Company and the Shubert Organization are producing the play, while 101 Productions, Ltd. is executive producing it.

Additional casting is expected to be announced soon.

"Hughie is set in the lobby of a small, midtown hotel on the West Side of Manhattan," a synopsis said. "Whitaker plays Erie Smith, a drunken, small-time hustler who is mourning the recent death of the hotel's night clerk, Hughie. Erie regales the new night clerk with tall-tales of his glory days and times spent with Hughie."

The show premiered on Broadway in 1964 with Jason Robards in the role of Erie Smith.

Whitaker's film credits include Lee Daniels' The Butler and The Last King of Scotland.