“Modern Family” star Jesse Tyler Ferguson will make his Menier Chocolate Factory debut playing Truman Capote in Jay Presson Allen’s “Tru.”
Rob Ashford directs the production, which opens Sept. 27 following previews from Sept. 19, and runs through Nov. 14.
“Tru” arrives at the Menier on the back of a well-received New York staging earlier this year. Ferguson reprises the role he originated earlier this year in the play’s first New York revival, staged at House of the Redeemer. The piece, built entirely from Capote’s own writing, first reached the stage in 1989.
Set in December 1975, the play finds Capote isolated in his New York residence, grappling with the fallout of a scandal that stripped him of standing among the wealthy social set he once cherished. Paul Farnsworth designed the production.
“I’m thrilled to bring this intimate production of ‘Tru’ to the Menier following its successful New York run,” Ferguson said. “The audience response to this unique theatrical experience, and the chance to encounter Truman Capote up close, was incredibly rewarding. I’m delighted that Rob Ashford and I now have the opportunity to share what we’ve created with London audiences.”
“I had the great pleasure of directing Jesse in a staged reading of ‘Tru’ as a one-night-only charity benefit in Tangier, Morocco, in the summer of 2024,” Ashford said. “He was mesmerizing. He captured the truth of the man, his humor and heartbreak. I’m thrilled that we get the opportunity to further explore this great pairing of actor and character in London.”
Ferguson holds a Tony Award for playing the accountant Mason Marzac opposite Richard Greenberg’s “Take Me Out” in its Broadway revival, a role that also won him the Outer Critics Circle Award. Onstage, he currently portrays King Herod in “Jesus Christ Superstar” at the London Palladium and recently made his West End bow in “Here We Are,” Stephen Sondheim’s last work, at the National Theatre. Last summer, he took part in the starry revival of “Twelfth Night” that marked the reopening of the Delacorte Theatre in New York’s Central Park. Ferguson is also known for playing Mitchell Pritchett across 11 seasons of ABC’s “Modern Family,” and he co-founded the LGBTQIA+ advocacy organization Pronoun, formerly Tie the Knot, with his husband Justin Mikita in 2012.
Allen, who died in 2006, adapted “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,” “Cabaret” and “Prince of the City” for the screen, among other works, and was twice nominated for an Academy Award. Ashford’s London credits include Olivier Award-winning productions of “Anna Christie,” “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Parade,” while his Broadway work includes a Tony Award for his choreography on “Thoroughly Modern Millie.”
The production adds to a busy stretch for the Menier, which is also readying “Midnight at the Never Get” for its home stage, sending “Equus” to Theatre Royal Bath, running “The Producers” in the West End and staging “Sabrage” at Lafayette London.
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