The last time actor Bradley Cooper appeared on Broadway was 2006. He supported Julia Roberts in Three Days of Rain. Ben Brantley of The New York Times didn’t think highly of Cooper’s performance – “alternately perky and indignant in the manner of a sitcom actor doing testy and aggrieved.” But that was before The Hangover, Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, two Oscar nominations, and working with Clint Eastwood in American Sniper. Eastwood said of Cooper: “In him, I sort of see myself at certain stage of my career.” But Clint Eastwood never trod the boards on Broadway. (Directing Jersey Boys doesn’t count!)
Bradley Cooper is now taking on the role of Joseph Carey Merrick in The Elephant Man at the Booth Theater in New York. Patricia Clarkson (The Station Agent, The Green Mile, Far from Heaven) is his co-star. Scott Ellis directs. The production will begin previews on November 7 and run for 14 weeks.
