Fonda Does Broadway

Jane Fonda returns to Broadway. The actress, 71, stars in Moises Kaufman's play, 33 Variations, according to thehuffingtonpost.com. Fonda portrays a musicologist suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease, who is fixated with finding out why Beethoven, her hero, was obsessed over a "third-rate waltz."

Fonda's character moves to Germany to further probe for answers in Beethoven's archives, becoming more estranged with her daughter.

The actress was last on Broadway in the 1963 production of Strange Interlude. She has won two Academy Awards, one for her role in the 1971 film, Klute; the other for her 1978 drama, Coming Home.

Kaufman chose Fonda for a reason. "I needed an actor who had a strong emotional life and also a great mind. I found a woman who had both," he said. The writer/director's other works include The Laramie Project and Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde.

Fonda is currently writing a book, and enjoying the immediacy of blogging.