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Stars: Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins | Written by Ruth Goetz, Augustus Goetz | Directed by William Wyler

Ruth and Augustus Goetz adapted their own stage play (itself based on a 19thcentury Henry James novel) for this 1949 melodrama. Directed by William Wyler, just before his mega-budget 1950s period, it’s a small-scale play with big ideas. Like many films of the period, the setting is the high society of New York, except this time the period is the mid-19th century.

Catherine Sloper (Olivia de Havilland) is an enigma. She carries herself with a boyish energy and disarming shyness, more interested in her embroidery than socialising. Socialising in this context means trying to bag a husband, of course. Catherine’s reclusiveness is more of an unwillingness to “present” herself in the cattle market of the upper social echelons. Then she meets the lithe, charming and persuasive Morris Townsend...

"It's a changing world," says one character in the sixth and final season of Downton Abbey - a thought that has (let's be honest) been reflected in the show's dialogue about as often as and and the. Though the new season began with a decidedly traditional event (fox hunting in 1925), even that aristocratic pastime was in flux. "After World War I, there were fewer hunters over smaller areas with considerably reduced prestige," Ruth Goodman, social historian and author of How to Be a Victorian, tells Life for its special commemorative Downton Abbey: Behind the Scenes of the Iconic TV Show.

"It's a changing world," says one character in the sixth and final season of Downton Abbey - a thought that has (let's be honest) been reflected in the show's dialogue about as often as and and the. Though the new season began with a decidedly traditional event (fox hunting in 1925), even that aristocratic pastime was in flux. "After World War I, there were fewer hunters over smaller areas with considerably reduced prestige," Ruth Goodman, social historian and author of How to Be a Victorian, tells Life for its special commemorative Downton Abbey: Behind the Scenes of the Iconic TV Show.

The Heiress

Directed by William Wyler

Written by Augustus and Ruth Goetz

Starring Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, and Ralph Richardson

USA, 115 min – 1949.

William Wyler’s The Heiress tells the quasi-tragic story of Catherine Sloper (Olivia de Havilland), a plain-jane, Gilded Age heiress, who’s naiveté leads her into a courtship, with fortune-hunter, Morris Townsend (Montgomery Clift). Seeing the truth behind Morris’s charm, Catherine’s father, Dr. Austin Sloper (Ralph Richardson), forbids the match. Catherine must then choose between the loyalty of her father and her love for Morris.

The Heiress focuses more on the relationships between its characters than it does on plot. First is the exploration of Catherine and Dr. Sloper. A lot of Catherine’s naive, nervous personality comes, as a result of Dr. Sloper’s upbringing. He constantly compares Catherine to her deceased mother (who died giving birth to her), outwardly stating that Catherine is a disappointment to him.

There's unmarriageable and then there's unmarriageable: The Catherine Sloper of Henry James's Washington Square is an 1850s heiress of "plain, dull, gentle countenance" who "devoted her pocket money to the purchase of cream cakes" and is "decidedly not clever." The Catherine Sloper of Ruth and Augustus Goetz's 1947 play The Heiress (which is merely "suggested" by Washington Square) is a bright young thing buried under a bushel of insecurities, crippled by an awkward fashion sense and near-cataleptic social anxiety. (In William Wyler's film version, Olivia de Havilland was slapped with a pair of Mike Dukakis eyebrows to uglify her into premature spinsterhood.)Now comes The Help's Jessica Chastain, the latest slightly nontraditional beauty to play the ostensibly uncomely Catherine: She gets a frizzy wig and a stammer-y, standoffish way with strangers. Is this enough to make her convincingly unappealing in the withering gaze of her father (David Strathairn...

New York – The gasps of pleasure that accompanied the stage entrance of Dan Stevens in The Heiress on press night indicated a large contingent of Downton Abbey fans in the audience. And the actor is a savvy casting choice in a part that requires beguiling charm and sufficient sincerity to keep us wondering about his character’s motives. But the good news doesn’t extend to the actress in the title role of this plush Broadway revival. An underpowered Jessica Chastain, hampered by questionable directorial choices, dilutes the emotional impact of this nonetheless compelling melodrama. Adapted by Ruth & Augustus Goetz

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Opening night is tonight for the new Broadway production of The Heiress. The Heiress stars Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain as Catherine Sloper, Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner David Strathairn as Dr. Austin Sloper, the leading man of Downton Abbey Dan Stevens as Morris Townsend and Tony Award winner Judith Ivey as Lavinia Penniman. Written by Ruth amp Augustus Goetz, The Heiress is directed by two-time Tony Award nominated playwright and director Moiss Kaufman.

The new Broadway production of the Tony Award winning play The Heiress stars Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain, Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner David Strathairn, the leading man of Downton Abbey Dan Stevens, and Tony Award winner Judith Ivey. Written by Ruth amp Augustus Goetz, The Heiress is directed by Tony Award nominated playwright and director Moiss Kaufman. BroadwayWorld brings you just-released photos of the cast in action below...

Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain, Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner David Strathairn and the leading man of Downton Abbey Dan Stevens lead a new production of the unforgettable drama and Tony Award winning play The Heiress. Written by Ruth amp Augustus Goetz, The Heiress will be directed by Tony Award nominated playwright and director Moiss Kaufman. The Heiress will be produced by Paula Wagner, Roy Furman and Stephanie P. McClelland.The cast met the press today and you can check out full photo coverage below...

Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain, Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner David Strathairn and the leading man of Downton Abbey Dan Stevens lead a new production of the unforgettable drama and Tony Award winning play The Heiress. Written by Ruth amp Augustus Goetz, The Heiress will be directed by Tony Award nominated playwright and director Moiss Kaufman. The Heiress will be produced by Paula Wagner, Roy Furman and Stephanie P. McClelland.The cast met the press today and BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge was there to chat with the whole team. Check out what they had to say by clicking below...

Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain, Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner David Strathairn and the leading man of Downton Abbey Dan Stevens lead a new production of the unforgettable drama and Tony Award winning play The Heiress. Written by Ruth amp Augustus Goetz, The Heiress will be directed by Tony Award nominated playwright and director Moiss Kaufman. The Heiress will be produced by Paula Wagner, Roy Furman and Stephanie P. McClelland.The cast met the press today and you can check out a photo preview from the festivities below Be sure to check back later for full coverage...

By Sam Negin

Theater Editor & Columnist

***

A new Broadway season is about to begin and, with it, new life has been brought to my posts. After over 900 posts, 50 comments, over 325 Tony nominees and over 75 winners in the two-and-a-half years I blogged independently about the Tony Awards, I am proud to be joining the team at ScottFeinberg.com.

Without any further ado, I would like to begin with a look ahead at the Broadway shows that will be coming up this year. I have made this list as comprehensive as I could given what information is available but, as is often the case, there is much more data available right now about the fall season (September through the winter holidays) than the spring season (Christmas through the Tony Awards in June) on Broadway. I will update this post with more details as information becomes available.

The list of shows we expect to see this year,...

The producers of The Heiress have just announced full casting for the Broadway-bound production that stars Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain, Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner David Strathairn, the leading man of Downton Abbey Dan Stevens and Tony Award winner Judith Ivey. Written by Ruth amp Augustus Goetz, The Heiress will be directed by Tony Award nominated playwright and director Moiss Kaufman. Tickets go on sale to the general public today, August 27.

Tony Award winner Judith Ivey joins Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain, Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner David Strathairn and the leading man of Downton Abbey Dan Stevens in a new production of the unforgettable drama and Tony Award winning play The Heiress. Written by Ruth amp Augustus Goetz, The Heiress will be directed by Tony Award nominated playwright and director Moiss Kaufman. The Heiress will be produced by Paula Wagner, Roy Furman and Stephanie P. McClelland.

Tara Rubin Casting is casting a new Broadway revival of "The Heiress," the enduring 1947 play about a painfully shy woman who longs for her father's affection but is willing to lose everything for love. The play was adapted by Ruth and Augustus Goetz from Henry James' 1880 novel "Washington Square." This production will be directed by Tony nominee Moises Kaufman ("Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo," "33 Variations").The producers announced in January that Jessica Chastain ("The Help," "Tree of Life") will star in the title role as Catherine Sloper, described as a plain-looking spinster who tries to earn her father's respect but rarely succeeds. David Strathairn will play Dr. Austin Sloper, Catherine's protective father who is still mourning his late wife. Dan Stevens ("Downton Abbey") has been cast as Morris Townsend, a handsome and charming young gold-digger who pursues Catherine's affections. Chastain and Stevens are both making their Broadway...

With production on the third season of PBS’ hit Downton Abbey wrapping soon, castmember Dan Stevens is set to play golddigger Morris Townsend in the Broadway revival of Ruth and Augustus Goetz’ play The Heiress this fall, which itself was based on the Henry James novel. Stevens plays Matthew Crawley, who is in line to inherit the grand titular estate in Downton Abbey. He will appear opposite Jessica Chastain, as the heiress herself Catherine Sloper, and David Strathairn as her disapproving father. This marks the Broadway debut for both Chastain and Stevens. The play based on Henry James’ Washington Square is being produced by Paula Wagner, Roy Furman and Stephanie P. McClelland and directed by Moisés Kaufman. Stevens’ previous stage work, in London, include playing Septimus Hodge in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia and the Doctor in Stoppard and Andre Previn’s Every Good Boy Deserves Favour.

Dan Stevens just can’t escape the aristocracy. The actor, who is currently starring as heir apparent Matthew Crawley in PBS’s smash soap Downton Abbey, will make his Broadway debut opposite Jessica Chastain and David Strathairn in The Heiress, which will bow at an as-yet-unannounced theatre in October 2012.

Stevens will play Morris Townsend, a charming gold digger who romances a wealthy heiress (Chastain, in her Broadway debut) despite the warnings of her father (Strathairn). The Moisés Kaufman-directed production is the fifth revival of the 1947 play, written by Ruth and Augustus Goetz, which was also adapted into a well-reviewed...

Downton Abbey meets Broadway Bww can report that Dan Stevens, star of the Golden Globe-winning series Downton Abbey, will play the role of Morris Townsend opposite Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain Catherine Sloper and Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner David Strathairn Dr. Austin Sloper in the Tony Award-winning play The Heiress. Written by Ruth Goetz amp Augustus Goetz, The Heiress will be directed by Tony Award nominated playwright and director Moiss Kaufman. Performances will begin October 2012 at a theatre to be announced.

Oscar-nominees David Strathairn annd Jessica Chastain will appear together on Broadway: "Written by Ruth Goetz & Augustus Goetz, 'The Heiress' will be directed by Tony Award nominated playwright and director Moisés Kaufman and will open in the Fall of 2012 at a theatre to be announced ... 'The Heiress' will be produced by Paula Wagner, Roy Furman and Stephanie P. McClelland. This production marks 17 years since the celebrated play was last seen on Broadway. 'The Heiress' is based on the classic Henry James novel Washington Square and became an Academy Award-winning film." Broadway World In the TV marketplace, is it better to be acclaimed or have ratings? "Both 'Two and a Half Men' and 'Mad Men' are considered massively successful shows, but that's about where their similarities end. The former has ratings through the roof, while the latter is critically-acclaimed. It made me wonder -- in a world of seemingly i.

Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner David Strathairn Dr. Austin Sloper will join Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain Catherine Sloper in the Tony Award-winning play The Heiress. Written by Ruth Goetz amp Augustus Goetz, The Heiress will be directed by Tony Award nominated playwright and director Moiss Kaufman and will open in the Fall of 2012 at a theatre to be announced.

New York -- David Strathairn will return to Broadway in the fall to star opposite Jessica Chastain in The Heiress, the 1947 adaptation by Ruth and Augustus Goetz of the 1880 Henry James novel, Washington Square.  Moisés Kaufman (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo) will direct the revival, which marks the first foray into Broadway producing for film veteran Paula Wagner. Her fellow lead producers on the project are Roy Furman and Stephanie P. McClelland.  Strathairn will play Dr. Austin Sloper, the wealthy father of Chastain's character, Catherine Sloper, a plain, socially awkward young woman from whom he withholds affection, blocking what she

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Actress Jessica Chastain is set to make her Broadway debut in an upcoming revival of The Heiress.

Chastain, who is currently nominated for a Golden Globe for her turn in The Help, will hit the stage this autumn.

The actress will portray a shy young woman yearning for her wealthy father's acceptance in the show, which will be directed by Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo veteran Moises Kaufman.

Her role was most famously played on the big screen by Olivia de Havilland in 1949.

The play, which was written by Ruth and Augustus Goetz, premiered in New York in 1947. It last appeared on Broadway in 1995.

Jessica Chastain is to make her debut on Broadway, it has been announced. The Tree of Life actress will star in a revival of Ruth and Augustus Goetz play The Heiress. "Jessica Chastain is a great actress with chameleon-like prowess and enormous emotional intelligence; I think she's one of the best actresses of her generation. I'm thrilled to be working with her on The Heiress," director Moisés Kaufman said in (more)...

My colleague Aly Semigran truly was right this morning when she wrote that Benedict Cumberbatch and Jessica Chastain would star in everything from here on out. This afternoon, producers behind Broadway’s The Heiress announced that the Tree of Life/The Help/The Debt/Take Shelter/awards season red-carpet star will make her debut on the Great White Way in the revival of the Ruth and Augustus Goetz–penned play.

But you’ll have to see the Golden Globe–nominated Chastain on TV at countless awards shows before you can see her on Broadway — the show, which will be directed...

Jessica Chastain is taking her rising star to Broadway. The Golden Globe-nominated actress will make her Broadway debut with a starring role in "The Heiress," the producers said Thursday. Chastain will play the lead role of Catherine Sloper, the character Olivia de Havilland played in 1947's Oscar-winning film adaptation. This fall, the Tony Award-winning play -- written by Ruth Goetz and Augustus Goetz, and based on Henry James' 1880 novel, "Washington Square" -- is returning to the Great White Way after 17 years. It will be produced by Paula Wagner, and "The...

Breaking: After wrapping up a year that saw her turn in lauded performances in the films The Help, Tree of Life, Take Shelter and The Debt, Jessica Chastain is now turning her sights on Broadway. She will star in The Heiress, a revival of the Tony-winning play which will be directed by Moises Kaufman. The play is being mounted by Paula Wagner, Roy Furman and Stephanie P. McClelland for next fall. The play, written by Ruth Goetz & Augustus Goetz, was last performed on Broadway 17 years ago. Chastain is up for Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for her 2011 work.

New York – Following a breakout year on screen, Jessica Chastain will make her Broadway debut in a major revival of Ruth Goetz and Augustus Goetz’s play The Heiress, based on the 1880 novel Washington Square by Henry James. Scheduled for fall 2012 at a theater to be announced, the production will be staged by Moisés Kaufman, whose recent Broadway credits include directing Robin Williams in Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo and Jane Fonda in 33 Variations. Photos: How 'The Help' Was Cast In addition to Chastain, the play also marks a first venture into Broadway for producer Paula Wagner, who

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Here's what I have to say to all the people who bemoan the state of classical music: My classical list is the last one I'm posting (as has often been the case) because there were so many great releases to listen to that I didn't finish until now.

I want to once again admit the biases operating in my best-of-the-year classical lists: I am most interested in the piano, choral, and symphonic literatures. I’m happy to listen to other things when they come my way, but those are what I seek out, vastly tipping the balance in their favor (tipping the balance against opera is the increasing disinclination of record companies to send promos for new opera recordings unless one specifically asks -- and even that is no guarantee). Also note: no reissues or compilations here. That disqualified even the first box-set appearance of David Zinman's fine Mahler cycle,...