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June 5, 2006 (from CBS News)

'Faith Healer' A Box Office Hit

"Faith Healer," already a critical success with a parade of glowing reviews, has become a Broadway hit where it really counts — at the box office.

The revival of the Brian Friel play starring Ralph Fiennes, Cherry Jones and Ian McDiarmid recouped its $2 million costs in only eight weeks, its producing team, headed by Michael Colgan and Sonia Friedman, announced Monday.

The drama has been playing to near capacity business at the Booth Theatre where the show opened May 4. Its limited engagement ends Aug. 13.

The original Broadway production of "Faith Healer," the tale of a charismatic charlatan, his adoring wife and his manager, had a brief life on Broadway in 1979, closing in less than three weeks.

"Faith Healer" now joins such other financially profitable shows from the 2005-2006 season as "Primo," "The Odd Couple," "Sweeney Todd," "Jersey Boys," "The Color Purple," "Bridge and Tunnel" and "The History Boys."
 

May 4, 2006 (from RTE.ie)

Faith Healer opens on Broadway tonight

The Gate Theatre Dublin production of 'Faith Healer', starring Ralph Fiennes and Ian McDiarmid, opens in Broadway's Booth Theater this evening.

Brian Friel's play, directed by Jonathan Kent and produced by Sonia Friedman, broke all box office records at the Gate when it sold out weeks in advance of the opening night.

During its previews in New York, 'Faith Healer' has played to capacity audiences, received standing ovations every night, had queues for returns at the Box Office for each performance and, apart from day seats, is sold out till mid June.

The production has broken Booth Theatre Box Office records.

'Faith Healer' tells the story of dissolute, charismatic Frank Hardy (Fiennes), his long-time lover (Tony Award-winning Cherry Jones) and his devoted manager (McDiarmid) who travel the back roads of Scotland and Wales peddling miracles.

This is Fiennes' first return to Broadway since his Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning performance as 'Hamlet' in 1995.

February 4, 2006 (from Monsters and Critics.com)

Faith Healer breaks record

By Amy Somensky

Brian Friel's Faith Healer has broken the record at Dublin's Gate Theatre. It has become the first production in the theatre's 78 year history to sell out its entire run before playing a single performance.

Faith Healer, directed by Jonathan Kent, will begin previews at the Booth Theater on April 18th and offically open on May 4th for a run through July 30th.

Starring in the Broadway production will be Ralph Fiennes as Frank Hardy, Cherry Jones as Hardy's long-time lover, Grace, and Ian McDiarmid as Teddy, Hardy's manager.

Faith Healer tells the story of a dissolute, charismatic faith healer Frank Hardy, his long-time lover Grace and his devoted manager Teddy who have spent a life-time touring the back roads of Scotland and Wales peddling miracles. As the three wrestle with Hardy’s genuine but elusive gift for healing, Hardy accepts that he must return home to Ireland, and the trio faces potent questions about who we trust, what we know and why we believe.

September 29, 2005 (from Playbill))

Cherry Jones Expected to Leap to Faith Healer with Ralph Fiennes For Broadway Revival

By Ernio Hernandez

Cherry Jones, the 2005 Tony Award winner for her current role in Doubt, will likely move to another Broadway gig this season, opposite Ralph Fiennes and Ian McDiarmid in Brian Friel's Faith Healer, according to Variety.

Dublin's Gate Theatre staging of Brian Friel's Faith Healer, which has yet to begin rehearsals for its Ireland run, will transfer to Broadway's Booth next year. Gate's artistic director Michael Colgan previously told the trade mag that following its February 2006 opening, the Jonathan Kent-directed revival will be New York-bound in April.

Faith Healer centers on Frank Hardy (Fiennes), a supposed traveling faith healer, his long-suffering spouse (Jones) and loyal manager (McDiarmid. The play debuted on Broadway in 1979 starring James Mason, Clarissa Kaye and Donal Donnelly.

Jones earned her second Tony Award for her turn in Doubt, adding to her previous win for The Heiress. Her numerous stage credits include Imaginary Friends, Major Barbara, A Moon for the Misbegotten, Our Country's Good, Angels in America, Flesh and Blood, Pride's Crossing, The Baltimore Waltz, Night of the Iguana, The Good Person of Setzuan and 25 productions as a company member of the American Repertory Theatre including Three Sisters, The Caucasian Chalk Circle and Lysistrata. She has been seen in the films "Oceans Twelve," "The Village," "Signs," "Cradle Will Rock," "Erin Brockovich," "The Horse Whisperer," "The Perfect Storm" and "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood."

Fiennes is known to American audiences for his film roles in "Schindler's List," "The English Patient," "Red Dragon," "The End of the Affair" and "Quiz Show." The English actor has amassed a number of stage credits in his native country including Brand, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Six Characters in Search of an Author, Fathers and Sons, King John, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Playing with Trains, The Talking Cure and the Almeida Theatre Company’s production of Hamlet, which transferred to Broadway and earned him a Tony Award. He will next star opposite Simon Russell Beale and Fiona Shaw in Deborah Warner's staging of Julius Caesar at the Barbican Theatre.

McDiarmid — widely recognized for his turn as Palpatine in the "Star Wars" films — is a stage veteran. The one-time artistic director of London's Almeida Theatre has trod the boards in Ivanov, Tartuffe, School For Wives, Creditors, and Kurt Weill Concerts at the Almeida as well as Henry V, The Merchant of Venice, The Party, The War Plays, Crimes In Hot Countries, The Castle, Danton , Hated Nightfall, Love of a Good Man, Raft of the Medusa, Edward II, The Country Wife, The Black Prince, Peer Gynt and Mephisto. He also appeared in "Sleepy Hollow," "Restoration," "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels."

The Northern Ireland-born Friel has also penned The Enemy Within, Philadelphia, Here I Come!, The Loves of Cass McGuire, Lovers, Crystal and Fox, The Mundy Scheme, The Gentle Island, The Freedom of the City, Volunteers, Living Quarters, Aristocrats, Translations, The Communication Cord, Making History, Dancing at Lughnasa, The London Vertigo, Wonderful Tennessee, Molly Sweeney and Give Me Your Answer, Do! His Dancing at Lughnasa won three 1992 Tony Awards including Best Play.

June 26, 2005 (from The Sunday Times - Ireland)

Fiennes to star in Faith Healer at the Gate

By Kate Butler

RALPH FIENNES, the Hollywood actor, is to appear in a production of Faith Healer at the Gate theatre in Dublin.

The British actor, who is currently touring Europe as Mark Antony in the Barbican production of Julius Caesar, is to take on the title role of Frank Hardy in Brian Friel’s celebrated play.

“Brian Friel asked me to do a production of it, which is very rare,” said Michael Colgan, director of the Gate theatre. “So I came up with the idea of Fiennes — I wanted someone charismatic and with a great voice.”

Fiennes, who lived in Ireland for a period as a child, was contacted by Colgan through his agent. “They said he had seen a production of the Faith Healer and loved it, that he read the play again and wanted to do it,” said Colgan.

The 42-year-old, who first gained fame for his chilling portrayal of a Nazi commander alongside Liam Neeson in Schindler’s List, will perform at the Gate from February 2, 2006 for eight weeks.

Jonathan Kent, a South African director who staged the play at the Almeida theatre in 2001, will direct. As former artistic director of the London theatre, Kent has previously worked with Fiennes, who trained at Rada.

In the demanding role of Hardy, Fiennes will perform two of the play’s four monologues. “There’s no one more serious about what they are doing than Ralph Fiennes. Going back into the theatre is like going into the gym, you hone your skills,” said Colgan.

Since Schindler’s List, Fiennes has starred in Hollywood films such as The English Patient and Neil Jordan’s The End of the Affair. His next big movie role is as Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

While international film stars such as Nicole Kidman, Kevin Spacey and Cate Blanchett flock to London’s theatres where they work for peanuts but gain critical kudos, fewer have trod the boards in Dublin. Fiennes will be the first big star in four years to appear on a Dublin stage. Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins brought their stage tribute to the heroes of 9/11, The Guys, to the Peacock theatre in 2002. In 1998, the Academy award-winning actress Frances McDormand enjoyed critical acclaim at the Gate for her performance as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams.

By comparison, in London, the 2000 production of The Graduate ran for two years, drawing a series of stars to play the role of Mrs Robinson: Jerry Hall, Kathleen Turner, Anne Archer and Linda Gray. Other stars who have acted in the West End over the past five years include Madonna, Spacey, Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow.

“It used to be that if you were doing a play it sent out a message that you can’t get a film,” said Colgan. “That’s changed, which is great. I said to Kevin Spacey, ‘it’s great that you do these plays in between the films’. ‘Michael’, he said, ‘I do the films in between the plays’.”

The Gate insists it is not looking for star appeal, however. “We don’t make it star-led,” said Colgan. “We don’t put up the prices and we don’t pay them more than the other actors. They want to be treated no differently.”

In 1998, the Gate did the same business for productions such as The Weir by Conor McPherson and The Steward of Christendom by Sebastian Barry as for A Streetcar Named Desire.

In August this year, Christopher Meloni, who stars in the American television series Law & Order, will perform in the Gate’s production of Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge.

March 31, 2005 (from Playbill)

Ralph Fiennes in Brian Friel's Faith Healer Broadway-Bound for 2006

By Ernio Hernandez

Dublin's Gate Theatre staging of Brian Friel's Faith Healer starring Ralph Fiennes, which has yet to begin rehearsals for its Ireland run, is already planning a Broadway engagement, according to Variety.

Gate's artistic director Michael Colgan told the trade mag that following its Feb. 21, 2006 opening, the Jonathan Kent-directed revival will be New York-bound that April.

Faith Healer centers on Frank Hardy, a supposed traveling faith healer, his long-suffering spouse and loyal manager. The play debuted on Broadway in 1979 starring James Mason, Clarissa Kaye and Donal Donnelly.

Fiennes is known to American audiences for his film roles in "Schindler's List," "The English Patient," "Red Dragon," "The End of the Affair" and "Quiz Show." The English actor has amassed a number of stage credits in his native country including Brand, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Six Characters in Search of an Author, Fathers and Sons, King John, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Playing with Trains, The Talking Cure and the Almeida Theatre Company’s production of Hamlet, which transferred to Broadway and earned him a Tony Award. He will next star opposite Simon Russell Beale and Fiona Shaw in Deborah Warner's staging of Julius Caesar at the Barbican Theatre.

The Gate in Dublin is currently premiering Friel's first full-length drama in eight years, The Home Place. Adrian Noble will direct the work starring Hugh O'Conor, Tom Courtenay and Derbhle Crotty which will transfer to London's Comedy Theatre in May.

The Northern Ireland-born Friel has also penned The Enemy Within, Philadelphia, Here I Come!, The Loves of Cass McGuire, Lovers, Crystal and Fox, The Mundy Scheme, The Gentle Island, The Freedom of the City, Volunteers, Living Quarters, Aristocrats, Translations, The Communication Cord, Making History, Dancing at Lughnasa, The London Vertigo, Wonderful Tennessee, Molly Sweeney and Give Me Your Answer, Do! His Dancing at Lughnasa won three 1992 Tony Awards including Best Play.

March 25, 2005 (from Daily Mail)

Ralph shows he's in Fiennes fettle

Movie star Ralph Fiennes is going into thespian overdrive.

As you know from this column, he's about to open at the Barbican in Julius Caesar- and I've been whispering that he might do Brian Friel's Faith Healer. Now I can confirm that he will star with Ian McDiarmid in a production of Friel's play at the Gate in Dublin, directed by Jonathan Kent.

Mr Fiennes had also hoped to do Hamlet, but scheduling problems meant that project had to be put on hold for a year or two.

Kent and McDiarmid did a version of Faith Healer four years ago (McDiarmid was brilliant). After playing Dublin in the New Year the play will go to Broadway next spring. Meanwhile Ralph has several movies coming out in the next 12 months.

Of course, he plays Lord Voldermort in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and he's also in Merchant Ivory's The White Countess, but I must say I'm looking forward to seeing him in Fernando Meirelles's movie of John Le Carre's The Constant Gardener - it has a very high buzz quotient.

(thanks to Fiennes Forum for sharing this with us)