This year’s Best Picture presenter at the Oscars was Steven Spielberg who could be back at the Kodak next year to collect that same Academy Award for his adaptation of the novel “War Horse.” The best-seller by Michael Morpurgo tells the tale of a young English farmhand who enlists during WW I in hopes of finding his beloved colt who has been sold to the cavalry.
Oscar nominees RIchard Curtis (“Four Weddings and a Funeral) and Lee Hall (“Billy Elliot”) adapted the 1982 Whitbread runner-up. Newcomer Jeremy Irvine plays the boy with two-time Oscar nominee Emily Watson and Peter Mullans as his parents, and Benedict Cumberbatch as an army officer.
Four years ago, helmer Nick Stafford turned the epic story into a stunning stage spectacle at the National Theater. The innovative production, which included both actors and puppeteers, won the 2007 Evening Standard, Critics’ Circle and Laurence Olivier Awards for set design (Rae Smith and Handspring Puppet Company) while Toby Sedgwick received the Olivier for choreography.
A Broadway run of “War Horse” begins on March 15 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. Lincoln Center is producing with Bob Boyett and the National as partners. The trailer below teases the magical elements of this production.
