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Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal will return to Broadway in a new production of William Shakespeare's racially fraught tragedy Othello, producer Brian Anthony Moreland announced today.
The production, planned for Spring 2025, will be directed by the prolific Kenny Leon (Topdog/Underdog), who has previously directed Washington on Broadway in Fences and A Raisin in the Sun.
In Shakespeare's fast-paced tale of jealousy and misplaced trust, written circa 1603, the villainous Iago preys on the insecurities of the Moorish war hero Othello—who has scandalously married a white woman, Desdemona—with false aspersions of infidelity. Casting for the role of Desdemona has not yet been announced.
This production of Othello will be the play's 23rd time on Broadway, but the first since the 1982 version with James Earl Jones, Christopher Plummer and Dianne Wiest. Its most recent Off Broadway staging was at New York Theatre Workshop in 2016, with David Oyelowo, Daniel Craig and Rachel Brosnahan.
In addition to his two plays with Leon, Washington has previously appeared on Broadway in The Iceman Cometh, Checkmates and 2005's Julius Caesar. Gyllenhaal has starred in Constellations, Sea Wall/A Life and Sunday in the Park with George.
