Denzel Washington is set to return to Broadway, per an announcement released on Wednesday, March 6, 2024. It has also been revealed that he will be starring in a revival of Othello alongside Jake Gyllenhaal in the 2025 Spring production.
Helmed by Tony winner Kenny Leon, the production is set to open at the Shubert Theatre, but the exact location is yet to be announced.
69-year-old Washington would portray Othello, a general who loses his sanity over jealousy, while Gyllenhaal would play Lago, the villain of the story, who convinces Othello to question his wife Desdemona’s infidelity. However, Desdemona’s role is yet to be cast.
Per a report by the New York Times, the last Broadway production of Othello took place in 1982 and starred James Earl Jones as Othello and the late Christopher Plummer as Lago.
Washington, himself a Tony Award winner, starred in the 2010 production of Fences, which was later adapted into a film. He also starred in the 2018 revival of The Iceman Cometh, and also earned a Tony nomination for his role as Theodore Hickman. He previously appeared in the 2014 revival of A Raisin In The Sun, which was the 2005 production of Julius Caesar, and made his Broadway debut in 1988 with Checkmates.
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Gyllenhaal, on the other hand, starred in the 2019 production of Sea Wall/A Life, the 2017 production of Sunday In The Park With George, and the 2015 production, Constellation in 2015. His work earned him Tony nominations as a producer and actor for Sea Wall/ A Life, and a nod as one of the producers of Jeremy O. Harris’ Slave Play.
The 2025 version of Othello marks a reunion between Leon and Washington, who previously worked together on Fences in 2010 and A Raisin In The Sun four years later. The latter won Leon his Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play.
