Revival of ‘Death of a Salesman’ Coming to Broadway with Andrew Garfield

Recent casting news surrounding the upcoming revival of ‘Death of a Salesman’ has just revealed that Andrew Garfield will play Biff, the wayward son of Willy Loman. The English actor played Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin in ‘The Social Network’, and recently completed filming the title role in ‘The Amazing Spiderman’.

Though this is Garfield’s Broadway debut, he is no stranger to the theater. The dual citizen of the U.S. and UK has taken to the stage in a number of plays in England, including the role of Romeo in the Manchester Royal Exchange’s production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ (2005). He was awarded the Milton Shulman Award for Outstanding Newcomer for his work on ‘Beautiful Thing,’ ‘Burn/Chatroom/Citizenship’ and ‘The Overwhelming.’

The revival will be directed by Mike Nichols. Nichols is famous for directing ‘The Graduate’ and ‘Closer’, and also has extensive Broadway experience, having won a remarkable 8 Tony awards (his most recent was in 2005 for ‘Spamalot’.)

‘Death of a Salesman’ is the story of Willy Loman (Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman), a traveling salesman who can’t keep his mind on the present. He keeps shifting back and forth between reality and memory, trying to figure out where exactly his life went wrong. Throughout his life, Willy tried to show his two sons that he was an important, respected and successful salesman. In reality, Willy truly believed that his success would come from being well liked. Linda Emond (‘Homebody’) has been cast as his wife, Linda.

The revival of Arthur Miller’s classic play will open in March of 2012 at the Barrymore Theatre.

Though it is too soon to tell (even star-studded plays can close early if reviews are bad), but it is likely that ‘Death’ will run through the July 3rd premier of Garfield’s new move ‘The Amazing Spider Man’. If you choose to see him on stage and not web-slinging, then I would advise you buy your tickets now, for high-profile shows like this sell out almost instantly.