Denzel on Broadway

Movie stars, even at the peaks of their careers, often take time off from their film schedules to perform on the Broadway stage. Now, the 49 year old actor Denzel Washington is set to play Brutus in an adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar." It will be directed by five time Tony winner Daniel Sullivan and produced by Carole Shorenstein Hays and Freddy DeMann. There will be a twenty-five person cast, but no one else has been named for any of the other parts.

The adaptation, which takes place in the near future, will bring the former stage actor back to his roots. His first Broadway performance was in "Checkmates," a 1988 comedy that did not last long. Denzel Washington had also been part of two Off-Broadway companies and even did public theatre. Once before, he had performed in another Shakespeare play, in which he had a fight scene with Morgan Freeman.

"Julius Caesar" starts previews at the Belasco Theatre in March and opens in April.