Cast List (with nomination possibilities out of 10)
NY TIMES REVIEW EXCERPTS: Marriage as Blood Sport: A No-Win Game: Which one are you betting on? The body or the brain? The big-breasted brawler or the spineless professor? Some advice to fans of histrionic blood sports: Don't call this game prematurely. With Kathleen Turner in one corner and Bill Irwin in the other, the balance of power is never fixed in the pulse-racing revival of ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,'' which opened last night at the Longacre Theater. Everybody ultimately loses in Edward Albee's great marital wrestling match of a play from 1962. But theatergoers who attend this revealingly acted new production, directed by Anthony Page, are destined to leave the Longacre feeling like winners, shaken but stirred by the satisfaction that comes from witnessing one helluva fight. As the man-eating Martha, Ms. Turner, a movie star whose previous theater work has been variable, finally secures her berth as a first-rate, depth-probing stage actress. And though Mr. Irwin, best known as a brilliant commedia-dell'arte-style clown, had proved himself a skilled Albee interpreter in the second Broadway cast of ''The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?,'' his is a naturally meek, apologetic presence. When it was announced that he would play George, the alcoholic history professor and Martha's devious sparring partner, predictions were that the full-bodied Ms. Turner would make short work of the splinterlike Mr. Irwin and then munch on the scenery for dessert. ---------------------------------------------------- TONY AWARDS HAVEN OPINION: There is little doubt that "Woolf" will garner nods for direction and Revival of a Play. Set and lighting nods also possible. Overall, "Woolf" could walk away a big winner come Tony Time.
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