Jake Gyllenhaal returns to Broadway in Burn This

One of the few Hollywood stars as equally magnetic on stage as in movies, Jake Gyllenhaal just announced his second Broadway gig (following last year’s dynamite turn in Constellations). Starting February 20, Gyllenhaal stars as the fiery, tormented Pale in Lanford Wilson’s Burn This. When it premiered in 1987, the play made John Malkovich famous, and Edward Norton took on the role in an Off-Broadway revival opposite Catherine Keener in 2002.

This revival (the play’s first on Broadway) will be directed by the sensational Michael Mayer (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, American Idiot). We’re curious to see who the producers cast as Anna, the emotionally fragile dancer who finds herself appalled the attracted by the erratic, angry Pale.

Gyllenhaal’s return isn’t the only good news: Burn This marks the inaugural production at the newly renovated Hudson Theatre on West 44^th Street. Broadway’s 41^st space has a storied history that Adam Feldman wrote about this past December. We look forward to seeing a beloved New York drama in one of New York’s newest venues.