Hollywood star Ben Stiller has returned to the Broadway stage for the first time since 1986 to act in the same dark comedy he previously appeared in. He stars opposite ‘Sopranos’ actress Edie Falco in ‘The House of Blue Leaves’, as a zookeeper whose musical ambitions are stymied by his mentally ill wife.
Stiller, 45, had a supporting role in ‘The House of Blue Leaves’ when it was staged in New York in 1986 alongside Frasier star John Mahoney in the lead role. His mother Anne Meara also has ties to the 1966 play, having appeared in an off-Broadway production in 1971. Variety’s Marilyn Stasio suggested the actor may be too young for his role yet remains “excellently cast”. The star, she said, is “so personally appealing, so comically desperate and so oblivious to the absurdity of his ambitions that he makes the character almost likeable”.
Best known for his comic roles in ‘Zoolander’, ‘Tropic Thunder’ and ‘There’s Something about Mary’, Stiller was seen last year in a more serious guise in comedy drama Greenberg. Since ‘The Sopranos’ ended in 2007, Falco has been seen in the medical drama Nurse Jackie, which gained her an Emmy award in 2010.
