The hottest ticket in New York's theatreland: Catherine Zeta-Jones returns to Broadway as star of Sondheim show

Catherine Zeta-Jones returns to Broadway as star of Sondheim show 

Catherine Zeta-Jones is the hottest ticket in New York's theatreland on Sunday night as she makes her much anticipated Broadway debut after nearly 20 years away from the stage in Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music. 

 

The 40-year-old Oscar-winning Welsh actress is starring as Desiree Armfeldt in a revival of Sondheim's 1973 classic musical.

Theatre critics traditionally sharpen their pencils when a Hollywood star takes to the stage. But the initial word from preview audiences was that Miss Zeta-Jones delivers an extremely strong performance.

"Outstanding", "dreamy" and "magnifico" were just some of the words used by preview goers in an overwhelmingly positive reaction on social networking sites. Tickets to see her in the show have been changing hands for £300 (£180) on eBay.

Sir Trevor Nunn, the show's director, said: "She's a theatre gal. She's got music theatre in her blood."

Zeta-Jones first trod the boards as a 12-year-old taking the lead in Annie at the Swansea Grand Theatre.

She later appeared in London's West End before leaving the stage to star first in television in The Darling Buds of May, and then a series of Hollywood films including The Mask of Zorro, Entrapment and Traffic.

She also won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Velma Kelly in the 2002 film version of Chicago.

"It's been something that I've been pining to get back to, theatre in general," she said ahead of Sunday night's opening performance at the Walter Kerr theatre.

"We've been in previews. The audience has been fantastically responsive to us as actors. That gives you the energy and also the courage to play with the material differently each night."

In A Little Night Music she dons a fiery red wig to play a glamorous, veteran actress at a turning point in her career who is reunited with an old lover, now married to a much younger woman.

The British actress, Angela Lansbury, 84, a veteran of 13 Broadway shows, plays her worldly mother. Miss Lansbury said: "The opportunity to be in a musical for goodness sakes at this time is really fantastic."

Zeta-Jones, her husband Michael Douglas and their children Dylan, nine, and Carys, six, have moved from Bermuda to New York for the run.

After it is over she plans to take a role in a play and possibly perform a one-woman song and dance show.