Brendan Fraser’s remarkable 2022 comeback was one of the great unexpected turns in recent Hollywood history. And now, with an Oscar win for The Whale, Fraser will act on the New York stage for the first time in nearly 15 years, starring in the premiere of Samuel D. Hunter’s Grangeville at the Signature Theatre in early 2025. His last New York production was 2010’s doomed Elling, which he starred in alongside Jennifer Coolidge and Denis O’Hare. It lasted just one week on Broadway. Given his recent track record, this comeback also bodes well.
Grangeville follows two half-brothers from a remote Idaho town who reconnect after years and miles apart to care for their sick mother. Fraser will play the older brother, Jerry, and Brian J. Smith (Sense8), who is back in New York theater for the first time since his revelatory (and Tony-nominated) performance in 2013’s The Glass Menagerie, will play his younger sibling, Arnold.
The upcoming play is not just a reconnection between Fraser and the stage but also a reconnection for Fraser and Hunter — Hunter wrote both the original play version of The Whale as well as the Fraser-starring adaptation. “Brendan is one of my favorite actors and favorite human beings,†Hunter tells Vulture. “I’m beyond lucky that I get to work with him again, this time on something brand-new for the stage, at Signature Theatre, which has been a real creative home for me. This story, these characters, and the world they come from mean a lot to me, and Brendan brings such warmth, humor, and painful humanity to the role.â€
Jack Serio (Uncle Vanya) will direct the production, which will run February 4 to March 16. Notably, for a star of Fraser’s Oscar-winning magnitude, the Signature Theatre is an Off Broadway house. With fewer seats and a guaranteed lack of Tony chatter, it’s a lower-stakes return to the New York stage for the actor. Now, we can only hope that the Signature releases more than just one promo image.
