By Randy Gener

NEW YORK CITY |  The Woman Who Works Her Long Flowing Hair is staging a comeback. You know, hair today, going in tomorrow. For a play about beauty, youth and sex no less.

Well, no….  The WICKED and RENT diva probably hates the word “Comeback.” It is a “Return.”  It won’t be, er, perm/anent since it will be a short run.

Tony Award-winner Idina Menzel is ready for her closeup.  She will star in Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of SKINTIGHT in June 2018.

In the play by Joshua Harmon, an alumnus of Roundabout’s Underground program for emerging playwrights, the Syosset-raised actress will play a woman who turns to her famous fashion-designer dad for support after her ex-husband gets engaged to a younger woman. Complicating matters is the 20-year-old man staying at her father’s West Village town house

The role Menzel will portray is a character named “Jodi Isaac.”  Direction will be executed by three-time Obie Award winner Daniel Aukin (BAD JEWS).  SKINTIGHT is Harmon’s Roundabout Underground commission. As part of Roundabout’s commitment to foster the talent of emerging writers, each Underground playwright is commissioned to write a new play before their Underground play is produced.

SKINTIGHT will begin preview performances Off-Broadway on May 31, 2018, and open officially on June 21, 2023 at the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46th Street). This will be a limited engagement through August 26, 2018.

Apparently, Menzel has been a part of the development process with playwright Joshua Harmon since the first reading in January 2015. Here is a full plot description based on the press release:

“A scorching examination of beauty, youth and sex. Reeling from her ex-husband’s engagement to a much younger woman, Jodi Isaac (Menzel) turns to her famous fashion-designer dad for support. Instead, she finds him wrapped up in his West Village townhouse with Trey. Who’s 20. And not necessarily gay.

But probably an adult film star. At least, according to Jodi’s son. Who’s also 20. And definitely gay. SKINTIGHT assays the nature of love, the power of attraction, and the ways in which a superficial culture persists in teaching its children that all that matters is what’s on the inside.

Playwright Joshua Harmon’s professional debut with the critically acclaimed world premiere of BAD JEWS in 2012 was the first Underground play to transfer to the Laura Pels Theatre. Following a sold-out run Off-Broadway, BAD JEWS became the third most produced and licensed play in the country and has been performed all over the world, including Germany, Israel and the West End.

Harmon’s play SIGNIFICANT OTHER premiered at the Laura Pels Theatre in 2015, and was the second play by an Underground playwright to transfer to Broadway, following Stephen Karam’s Tony Award-winning play, THE HUMANS, last season.

Joshua Harmon’s PLAY was developed at Roundabout with support from the Laurents/Hatcher Foundation.

TICKET INFORMATION:
Tickets for are first made available to subscribers and donors. Whether you are interested in the best value or VIP experiences, Roundabout has a package option for you. Visit roundabouttheatre.org or call 212-719-1300 for more info. Sign up for Roundabout’s email club at roundabouttheatre.org to be notified when tickets go on sale to the public.

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