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Chris Rock Preparing for Broadway Debut

Chris Rock Preparing for Broadway Debut

He’s conquered standup. He’s conquered Hollywood. Now Chris Rock will take steps toward tackling Broadway this week when he begins rehearsals for Stephen Adly Guirgis' The Motherf--ker With the Hat.

According to Hollywoodreporter.com the play will begin previews on March 15 before opening April 11 at the Gerald Shoenfeld Theatre. Rock described the blue-collar comedy—about a man on parole trying to live clean with his volatile girlfriend, who is far from sober—as "The Honeymooners with drugs." The actor/comedian, in his Broadway debut, plays the man's drug counselor. Directed by Tony Award–winner Anna D. Shapiro, the production will co-star veteran TV actors Elizabeth Rodriguez, Bobby Cannavale and The Sopranos alumna Annabella Sciorra.

Rock told the Associated Press that he has embraced the unique creative process of Broadway and says that if the show's 15-week run goes well, he could “absolutely do one of these every once in a while."

"I like this process because it values the writer," Rock said. "Literally, nothing's done without the writer's approval—and that's so different from the movies. In the movies, they kind of hate the writers. The writers' union needs a Rosa Parks."

Rock is just the latest comedian to be drawn to Broadway this season, joining Robin Williams, Ben Stiller, Jim Gaffigan, Dane Cook, Colin Quinn, John Leguizamo and Kathy Griffin.

"People want to work, man," Rock says. "They don't make Sydney Pollack movies any more. They're not making Marathon Man any more. So if you want to act, if you want to be in something of substance, and you're not 19, it's hard."

 

 

Image:  Jason Kempin/Getty Images

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