COPENHAGEN (Broadway)
COPENHAGEN by Michael Frayn opened at the Royale Theatre on Broadway on April 11, 2000 and closed January 21, 2001 after 21 previews and 326 performances.
Produced by James M. Nederlander, Roger Berlind, Scott Rudin, Elizabeth Ireland McCann, Ray Larsen, Jon B. Platt, Byron Goldman and Scott Nederlander; Produced by arrangement with The Royal National Theatre (Trevor Nunn, Director), Michael Codron and Lee Dean.
Directed by Michael Blakemore; Designed by Peter J. Davison; Lighting designed by Mark Henderson and Michael Lincoln; Costume supervision by Charlotte Bird; Sound by Tony Meola and Wig Design by Paul Huntley.
Starring Philip Bosco (Niels Bohr), Blair Brown (Margrethe Bohr) and Michael Cumpsty (Werner Heisenberg)
Understudies: Tony Carlin (Werner Heisenberg), Laurie Kennedy (Margrethe Bohr) and Patrick Tovatt (Niels Bohr)
Assistant Lighting Design: Steve Brady and Assistant Sound Design: Jordan Pankin
General Manager: Joey Parnes; Company Manager: Elizabeth M. Blitzer; Production Stage Manager: R. Wade Jackson; Stage Manager: Deirdre McCrane; Casting: Jim Carnahan; Press Representative: Boneau / Bryan-Brown; Online Marketing: Toby Simkin / Theatre.com; Advertising: SPOTCo, Inc.; B-roll production: Peter Bloch.
As Founder and CEO of Theatre.com and BuyBroadway.com. The pioneer in moving the Broadway industry onto the internet. The theatre press branded me as “Toby is the man pushing theatre, kicking and screaming, into cyberspace.” What started in 1989 as a Broadway industry service called ShowCall via dialup BBS for members of the League of American Theatre Producers evolved onto the world wide web in the early 90’s, and shortly after this, the vast majority of Broadway shows (starting with my production of Victor/Victoria) and theatrical organizations followed. The “Super site of Broadway” became a publicly traded company, prior to my re-branding it as Theatre.com at the Minskoff Theatre.
Described by Variety Magazine as a “marketing powerhouse“, it was the single largest theatre community in the world with over 180,000 active members (in the 1990’s this was massive). From buying official Broadway tickets and souvenirs, providing detailed global show listings, interactive show study & educational guides, live streaming shows and events (including many Opening Nights live broadcasts), industry news from major theatre journalists, pictures and videos, games, messaging directly to Broadway cast’s backstage or even licensing a musical, theatre.com offered it all in a single, easy-to-use interface to theatregoers globally.
Copenhagen is based around an event that occurred in Copenhagen in 1941, a meeting between the physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. It debuted in London in 1998. Within the National Theatre in London, it ran for more than 300 performances, starring David Burke (Niels Bohr), Sara Kestelman (Margrethe Bohr), and Matthew Marsh (Werner Heisenberg).
Copenhagen won the Tony Award for Best Play, Best Featured Actress in a Play (Blair Brown), and Best Direction of a Play (Michael Blakemore). It also won the 2000 Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Director Of A Play (Michael Blakemore)
In 2002, the play was adapted as a film by Howard Davies, produced by the BBC and presented on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States.
Did You Know?
Michael Howell Blakemore OBE, AO (18 June 1928 – 10 December 2023) was an accomplished Australian actor, writer and theatre director who also made several films. Born in Sydney, Australia in 1928, in 2000 he became the only individual to win both Drama Desk Awards and repeated at the Tony Awards for Best Director of a Play and Best Director of a Musical in the same year for COPENHAGEN and KISS ME, KATE. He was also the recipient for the same double show win, as voted by the public, of Toby Awards.