Starring Uma Thurman
The fact that
House of Cards creator Beau Willimon's first Broadway play is set among the political classes of Washington should come as no surprise. However, unlike his icy Netlfix hit, The Parisian Woman is slightly lighter fare, adapted from Henry Becque's 19th century farce La Parisienne. Leading the cast, and also making her Broadway debut, is Golden Globe nominee Uma Thurman. She's joined in the cast by Josh Lucas (American Psycho), Phillipa Soo (Hamilton) and Marton Csokas.
Originally produced in Costa Mesa in 2013,
The Parisian Woman follows a lawyer's wife who must use all her charms to try and secure her husband a nomination for Attorney General. Sleeping with influential parties lies well within in her purvey, but are these affairs really in aid of her man or herself?
Uma & beau
Following a stint as a model, Umu Thurman began her acting career in earnest with 1988's
Dangerous Liaisons, in which her young naive Cecile was seduced by John Malkovich's scheming Valmont. Her place in the annals of Hollywood history was secured by two iconic roles for Quentin Tarantino; Mia Wallace in Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill's The Bride, while her other credits include Gattaca, Nymphomaniac and The Producers.
While this is the first main stem staging of one of his works, Beau Willimon has numerous Off-Broadway plays to his name, including 2008's
Farragut North, which he subsequently adapted for the silver screen as
The Ides of March. As the creator of Netflix's political thriller House of Cards, he's given us some of modern tv's most memorable plot twists and devilishly enjoyable anti-heroes.
What is The Parisian Woman About?
DC lawyer Mark is close to a nomination for Attorney General. His wife Chloe is as smooth an operator as he is, with even more of a cunning and avaricious nature, and is very prepared to use her sexual charms to help her husband's cause. Trouble arises when the political power broker she's sleeping with falls for her. Unwilling to get tangled up in a messy situation, Chloe distances herself from her lover, and must plot a new route into the heart of Washington's political elite.