Broadway Features and Reviews
A Steady Rain Is Broadway's Hot Ticket
By Broadway Magazine Staff
"I married into a police family. My wife's father was a life-long policeman... My brother-in-law is a retired police detective," says Keith Huff in a 2008 interview with "Talk Theatre In Chicago." His police drama A Steady Rain has already garnered some of the biggest buzz of the new Broadway season. Not only will the production star Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig, but The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Mr. Huff sold the film rights to the play's producers as well.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, A Steady Rain is the first play in a trilogy about two policemen. The article speculates that "the producers might be eyeing a potential franchise for two stars with huge international appeal and proven dramatic chops." The other two plays in the trilogy are "The Detective's Wife" and "Tell Us of the Night." The police drama has already earned praise for its honesty and accuracy.
"The germ of the play came from an article I read in the New York Times about the two Milwaukee policeman who turned one of Jeffrey Dhamer's victims back over to him. Obviously it was a horrific crime. A horrific series of crimes. It struck me as odd that the policemen were on trial. I started to think, 'why do we put the policemen on trial?' Obviously they made a mistake. Obviously there was a lapse in judgment. But it seemed to me that they had to go this extra length to try to make sense of something that didn't make sense," said Mr. Huff during the play's run in Chicago at the Royal George Theatre.
During that run, there were already plans to bring the play to London and Broadway according to the 2008 interview, but Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman were not attached. Now, in a Broadway season that is blazing with stars like Jude Law in Hamlet, Julia Stiles, Bill Pullman, James Spader, and more, A Steady Rain is proving to be the bellwether of the Broadway shows this fall.
"I think the rule of thumb that I had all along was we seem to stereotype policeman, and they never seemed really human or humane. So, that was something that I kept forefront in my mind, was 'let's remember these are human beings. They are not defined by their job'... I hand no intention to romanticize them as policeman and no intention to denigrate them," says Keith Huff, playwright of A Steady Rain in the "Talk Theatre In Chicago" interview.
Previews begin September 10, and tickets for A Steady Rain on Broadway at the Schoenfeld Theatre are now on sale. It will play a limited 12 week run.
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