He’s played everything from a boy in a bubble to a world-champion boxer — but it’s safe to say that fans have never heard Jake Gyllenhaal like this before.
The 35-year-old actor is returning to Broadway this month to lead a new revival of Stephen Sondheim’s hit 1984 show Sunday in the Park with George. It’ll be the first Broadway musical for the Oscar nominee, who made his debut on the Great White Way in the 2015 drama Constellations.
In a new video posted on Gyllenhaal’s Facebook page Tuesday, Gyllenhaal’s beautiful baritone is on full display — as he sings one of the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer’s most autobiographical songs, “Finishing the Hat.”
The clip, filmed by Beasts of No Nation director and cinematographer Cary Fukunaga, shows a pensive Gyllenhaal wandering through the backstage areas of New York’s historic Hudson Theatre — which will reopen with the production after an extensive, multimillion-dollar renovation.
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The playhouse originally opened in 1903 and was converted into a Broadway house after being a network radio and television studio, a night club, and a corporate event space.
Gyllenhaal will play painter George Seurat in the show, which follows the famed 19th-century French post-Impressionist in the months leading up to the completion of his most famous painting, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the La Grande Jatte.”
Tony winner Annaleigh Ashford (Masters of Sex) will join Gyllenhaal, as his character’s neglected lover Dot.
The pair first tackled the roles together for a handful of performances in a concert staging of the musical at New York City Center in October.
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The roles were originated on Broadway by Mandy Patinkin (Homeland) and Bernadette Peters (Mozart in the Jungle) — who both received Tony nominations for their work.
But don’t expect Gyllenhaal and Ashford to receive nominations this year. The producers of the limited-run production have opted to take the show out of consideration for Broadway’s biggest honor.
Sunday in the Park with George begins previews Saturday ahead of a Feb. 23 opening. The 10-week, limited-run production is currently scheduled to close on April 23. Sarna Lapine, niece of the show’s book writer James Lapine, directs.