Premieres
The one-act, verse version of A View from the Bridge opened on Broadway on September 29, 1955, at the Coronet Theatre (now the Eugene O'Neill Theatre); Marilyn Monroe was in the audience.[4] It ran for 149 performances. This production was directed by Martin Ritt and the cast included Van Heflin as Eddie and Eileen Heckart as Beatrice.[5]
Its two-act version premiered in London's West End under the direction of Peter Brook. It opened at the New Watergate theatre club (currently Harold Pinter Theatre) on October 11, 1956, and the cast included Richard Harris as Louis and Anthony Quayle as Eddie,[6] with lighting design by Lee Watson.
Revivals in New York
Dustin Hoffman acted as assistant director and stage manager for a successful 1965 production of the play Off-Broadway at the Sheridan Square Playhouse in New York City. The play's director, Ulu Grosbard, suggested to Arthur Miller that Hoffman would one day make a great Willy Loman (a role that Hoffman would later play to great acclaim). Miller was unimpressed and later wrote that "My estimate of Grosbard all but collapsed as, observing Dustin Hoffman's awkwardness and his big nose that never seemed to get unstuffy, I wondered how the poor fellow imagined himself a candidate for any kind of acting career."[7]
Another production in New York opened on February 3, 1983, at the Ambassador Theatre, with Tony Lo Bianco as Eddie and directed by Arvin Brown. It ran for 149 performances.[5]
An award-winning production in New York opened on December 14, 1997, at the Criterion Center Stage Right and subsequently transferred to the Neil Simon Theatre. It ran for 239 performances. It was directed by Michael Mayer and the cast included Anthony LaPaglia, Allison Janney, and Brittany Murphy.[5][8] The production won the Tony Award for: Best Revival of a Play; Best Leading Actor in a Play (LaPaglia); it also won Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Revival, Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play (Janney), and Outstanding Direction of a Play.
A revival at the Cort Theatre on Broadway in 2009 starred Liev Schreiber, Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Hecht. The limited, 14-week engagement, directed by Gregory Mosher, began with previews on December 28, 2009, and officially opened on January 24, 2010. It ran until April 4, 2010.[5][8][9] Johansson won a Tony Award for her performance.
From October 2015 through February 2016, a production of the play that originated at the Young Vic Theatre in London in 2014 ran on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre featuring its original London cast.[10] It won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play; the director, Ivo van Hove won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play.
Revivals in London
The National Theatre of Great Britain staged a production in 1987 at the Cottesloe Theatre. It was directed by Alan Ayckbourn and Michael Gambon gave an acclaimed performance as Eddie. Time Out called the production "near perfect" and the New Statesman called it "one of the finest events to be presented at the National Theatre since it moved to the South Bank."[11]
Another West End production was staged at the Duke of York's Theatre, opening in previews on January 24, 2009, and officially on February 5. It ran until May 16, 2009. It was directed by Lindsay Posner, with Ken Stott as Eddie, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Beatrice, Hayley Atwell as Catherine and Harry Lloyd as Rodolpho.[12]
In 2014, Belgian director Ivo van Hove and lead actors Mark Strong (as Eddie), Phoebe Fox (Catherine), and Nicola Walker (Beatrice) revived the play to huge success at the Young Vic.[13] This revival won three Laurence Olivier Awards in April 2015, for Best Actor (Mark Strong), Best Revival and Best Director (Ivo van Hove). The Young Vic production transferred to Broadway with its British cast intact.[14]
Other revivals
In 1992, the Royal Exchange, Manchester staged a production directed by Greg Hersov with Jonathan Hackett, Michael Sheen and Kate Byers, the same year that the Royal Theatre Northampton produced an acclaimed production directed by Michael Napier-Brown, designed by Ray Lett and a cast featuring David Hargreaves (Eddie), Kathrine Schlesinger, Nicola Scott, Richard Harradine, Colin Atkins and Duncan Law.
After the Ivo van Hove 2015 production closed on Broadway, it was restaged by the Centre Theatre Group of Los Angeles with a new cast that included Frederick Weller (Eddie), Andrus Nichols (Beatrice), Catherine Combs (Catherine), Alex Esola (Marco), and David Register (Rodolpho); this cast then toured to the Kennedy Center in Washington.[15][16] In 2017, van Hove directed the play at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. Combs and Nichols reprised their roles, joined by Ian Bedford as Eddie.[17][18] In 2023 the Chichester Festival Theatre staged a production with Jonathan Slinger as Eddie, Nancy Crane as Alfieri, Kirsty Bushell as Beatrice, Rachelle Diedericks as Catherine and Luke Newberry as Rodolpho.
