SAMUEL J. FRIEDMAN THEATRE

Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon perform the classic drama in rep

The two 2017 Drama Desk and Tony Award winners star in this brand new revival of Lillian Hellman's 1939 drama The Little Foxes. Alternating roles at each performance, Linney (Drama Desk Award for Best Actress) and Nixon (Tony Award for Best featured Actress) both play rivals Regina Hubbard Giddens and Birdie Hubbard in this six-time Tony-nominated Southern tale of family skullduggery, as two factions face each other off for control of their thriving business. Set in 1900, two women must strive for financial independence amidst the patriarchal system of inheritance. A host of well known TV faces are also featured in the cast, including Better Call Saul's Michael McKean.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

With the main focus on Regina, we follow her on an ever-darkening journey to secure wealth for herself and her family. With an adolescent daughter Alexandra and an ailing husband Horace, her wealthy brothers Benjamin and Oscar are planning to build a cotton mill, using Oscar's hated, alcoholic wife Birdie for her family's plantation fortune. Still short of money for their scheme, they approach Regina for the rest, knowing that Horace is wealthy.

Oscar proposes that his son Leo marry Alexandra in order to join forces, but her parents are horrified; the two youngsters are first cousins, after all. However when Horace offers the brothers a loan behind Regina's back, effectively cutting her out of his will, Regina take drastic action, refusing to help her husband following a serious heart attack, and watching him die before he could change his will properly. In the meantime, his nephew Leo has stolen Horace's valuable railway bonds, in order to secure the money.

Triumphant, Regina attempts to blackmail her brothers about Leo's theft in order to gain the majority share of the mill. However, this ultimately backfires on her, when her daughter, horrified at her mother's despicable behavior, disowns her. The play ends with Regina a wealthy woman but without the love of her family.

DID YOU KNOW?

Hellman's inspiration for the play reportedly comes from her own in-laws, the Marx family. The discord between the two sides came about from poor business decisions by her father, belittled by her wealthy Marx grandmother on a continual basis. Ouch.