THE OLIVIER AWARD-WINNING SMASH-HIT PLAY
GIANT
BY MARK ROSENBLATT
WILL OPEN ON BROADWAY IN MARCH 2026
STARRING TWO-TIME TONY AWARD AND OLIVIER AWARD WINNER
JOHN LITHGOW as Roald Dahl
DIRECTED BY TWO-TIME TONY AWARD WINNER
NICHOLAS HYTNER
(New York, NY) Producers Brian and Dayna Lee, Stephanie Kramer and Nicole Kramer, Josh Fiedler and Robyn Goodman, and Royal Court Theatre are thrilled to announce that the Olivier Award-winning smash-hit play GIANT, written by Mark Rosenblatt, will transfer to Broadway, straight from sold-out runs on the West End and at the Royal Court Theatre. Starring two-time Tony Award and Olivier Award winner John Lithgow as Roald Dahl, directed by two-time Tony Award winner Nicholas Hytner, and featuring design by Bob Crowley, GIANT will begin Broadway performances on Wednesday, March 11, 2026 at a Shubert theater to be announced for a strictly limited 16-week engagement.
Tickets for GIANT will go on sale to the public in October 2025. To sign up for early ticket access and to be the first to receive updates on the production, visit gianttheplay.com.
A world-famous children’s author under threat. A battle of wills in the wake of scandal. And one chance to make amends.
Following an acclaimed West End run and three Olivier Awards, GIANT tells the story of author Roald Dahl and the true scandal that shook his legacy.
On behalf of the producers, Brian and Dayna Lee said: “GIANT is a powerful reminder that live theatre sparks vital conversation and deeper connection. The critical and audience acclaim from its West End run speaks to the insight and resonance of Mark Rosenblatt’s writing, remarkable for a debut play, and to John Lithgow’s stunning performance. We are honored to bring this timely work to Broadway this Spring.”
“My debut play GIANT was written on spec in my kitchen with no assurance it would ever get produced at all,” said playwright Mark Rosenblatt. “So, to have it premiere at London’s mighty Royal Court Theatre before transferring to the West End was truly life-changing. And now, to open on Broadway, led again by the peerless John Lithgow, is truly the stuff of dreams - I can’t wait to share GIANT and Nick Hytner’s exceptional production with New York audiences.”
"Being a part of GIANT from its inception has been the most challenging and exciting stage experience of my career,” said John Lithgow, who is returning to Broadway for the first time since 2019. “I play the central character of Roald Dahl, a man of dizzying complexity, on a day of crisis in his life. The story takes place forty years ago, but it resonates powerfully with events of our present day. No play I’ve ever been in has had such an impact on audiences. I am so proud and honored to play this part."
“It’s a great privilege to be on Broadway with this superb play and to be working again with John Lithgow, one of the English-speaking world's greatest actors,” said GIANT director Nicholas Hytner.
More information on theater, opening night date, additional casting and additional design team will be announced at a later date.
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BIOS
JOHN LITHGOW (Roald Dahl) has long been regarded as one of America's most distinguished performers. He has made an indelible impression on audiences with his work in film, television and the theater, receiving two Tonys, six Emmys, two Golden Globes, four SAG Awards and two Oscar nominations. Lithgow has appeared in a long list of critically acclaimed films, as far back as The World According to Garp and as recent as Conclave. He most recently starred in The Rule of Jenny Pen with Geoffrey Rush, and in the title role of JIMPA with Olivia Colman, which debuted at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Lithgow has starred in the hit TV shows “3rd Rock from the Sun,” “Dexter,” “The Crown,” and the recent “The Old Man” on FX. On stage, he has appeared on Broadway twenty-five times, including award-winning appearances in “The Changing Room,” “M. Butterfly,” “Requiem for a Heavyweight,” and the musicals “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” and “The Sweet Smell of Success.” Upcoming, Lithgow will be seen as ‘Dumbledore’ in the “Harry Potter” series for HBO. In November, Lithgow concluded a sold-out run of “Giant” at London’s Royal Court Theatre, where he starred as Roald Dahl. The production then transferred to the Harold Pinter Theatre on the West End for a limited run in Spring 2025. Lithgow won an Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance, with “Giant” also earning the award for Best New Play. For children, Lithgow has written several best-selling children’s picture books for Simon & Schuster. His recordings for kids have landed him four Grammy nominations , and he has appeared with a dozen major American orchestras in children’s concerts that feature many of his own songs. He wrote the narration for the New York City Ballet’s “Carnival of the Animals” in 2003 and danced the role of The Elephant. In 2011, a warm reception greeted Lithgow’s memoir “Drama: An Actor’s Education,” published by Harper Collins. Since 2019, he has written and illustrated the “Dumpty Trilogy,” three books of political satire from Chronicle Prism which achieved the remarkable feat of landing Lithgow on the New York Times non-fiction bestseller list for three consecutive years. Mr. Lithgow recently completed his term as co-chair of the Commission on the Arts of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, producing authoritative reports on America’s creative workforce and arts in education. The Commission’s deliberations also spawned Art Happens Here, a PBS documentary which highlights the importance of all the arts in the lives of young people.
NICHOLAS HYTNER (Director) is Co-Founder of the Bridge Theatre where he has directed Young Marx, Julius Caesar, Allelujah!, Alys, Always, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Two Ladies, Beat the Devil, A Christmas Carol, Bach & Sons, The Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage, Straight Line Crazy, The Southbury Child, and John Gabriel Borkman and Guys and Dolls. From 2003 to 2015, he was Director of the National Theatre where his productions included Henry V, His Dark Materials, The History Boys, Stuff Happens, Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2, The Habit of Art, England People Very Nice, Much Ado About Nothing, One Man, Two Guvnors, Hamlet, Carousel, The Wind in the Willows, The Madness of George III, Timon of Athens and Othello. Most recently he directed Giant at the Royal Court. FILM includes The Madness of King George, The History Boys, The Lady in the Van and The Choral. TELEVISION: Talking Heads for the BBC. OPERA includes Handel’s Xerxes for English National Opera and Giulio Cesare for Paris Opera; Mozart’s Magic Flute for ENO and Cosi Fan Tutte at Glyndebourne; and Verdi’s Don Carlo for the ROH. AWARDS include three Olivier awards, three Tony awards and a BAFTA.
MARK ROSENBLATT (Playwright) is a writer and director for stage and screen. Giant is his debut play. It premiered in Autumn 2024 at the Jerwood Royal Court Theatre Downstairs, before transferring to the Harold Pinter Theatre in the West End in Spring 2025 for a limited season. For Giant, Mark won both the Olivier Award and UK Critics’ Circle Award for Best New Play, as well as the Critics’ Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright. Prior to writing Giant, he worked extensively as a theatre director. He won the 1999 JMK Young Directors Award for his production of S.Anski’s The Dybbuk (Battersea Arts Centre) and founded Dumbfounded Theatre in 2001, producing neglected work from the European repertoire. He was Studio Associate at the National Theatre (2011- 2013), Associate Director at Leeds Playhouse (2013–16), and subsequently Associate Artist there until 2020. His theatre directing credits include: V [formerly Eve Ensler]’s Fruit Trilogy (Lucille Lortel Theater, New York; also, Leeds Playhouse & Southbank Centre, London); Heather Christian’s Animal Wisdom [co-director] (Bushwick Starr Theater, New York); Frank McGuinness’ adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis (Classic Spring Company at the Vaudeville Theatre, London & Edinburgh Festival, starring Simon Callow); Martin Crimp’s The Country (Tokyo); Brad Birch’s Missing People [co-director] (New National Theater, Tokyo/Kani Public Arts Theater & Leeds Playhouse); Linda Marshall Griffiths’ adaptation of Villette, Richard III, Uncle Vanya, Alan Bennett’s Untold Stories, Of Mice and Men (Leeds Playhouse); Waiting for Godot (Tobacco Factory, Bristol & Tour); Jack Thorne’s adaptation of Alexander Masters’ Stuart: A Life Backwards (HighTide/Sheffield Theatres; Carol Tambor Award nomination); John O’Keeffe’s Wild Oats (Bristol Old Vic); Ron Hutchinson’s Moonlight and Magnolias(Watermill Theatre, Newbury); Henry VIII, Jack Shepherd’s Holding Fire! (Shakespeare’s Globe); Just Between Ourselves, A Passionate Woman (Northampton Theatres); Songs of the South, The Unknown Kurt Weill (English National Opera/Young Vic Theatre); The Tempest (Cottesloe, National Theatre & tour); W. Somerset Maugham’s The Circle (Oxford Stage Company/Salisbury Playhouse & two national tours). For Dumbfounded Theatre: Arthur Schnitzler’s Professor Bernhardi (Arcola/Oxford Stage Company/BBC Radio 4) and CP Taylor’s Bread and Butter (Southwark Playhouse /Scottish tour/Tricycle Theatre, London). His film work includes: Ganef [writer-director] (Oscar-longlisted for Best Live Action short), Making Noise Quietly [co-writer] (feature, Open Palm Films), Cleopatra and Newborn [writer-director] (short films adapted from Shakespeare/BFI & Shakespeare’s Globe]. He is currently writing a feature film for Good Chaos, Film4 & MUBI.
BOB CROWLEY (Design). Recent credits include: Ralph Fiennes Season at Theatre Royal Bath – Grace Pervades, As You Like It, *Small Hotel (*opens in October); Giant (Royal Court Theatre and Westend); Richard II (Bridge Theatre); A Voyage Round My Father (Theatre Royal Bath). Theatre includes: Carousel, The History Boys, Phèdre, Fram [co-director], The Hare Trilogy, Mourning Becomes Electra (National); The Inheritance (Young Vic, Westend, Broadway); King Lear, Hamlet, Henry V, The Plantagenets, Les Liaisons Dangereuses (RSC). Opera and Ballet includes: An American in Paris, Alice’s Adventures Underground, The Winter’s Tale, Strapless, Pavane, Like Water for Chocolate, Anastasia (Royal Ballet); La Traviata, Don Carlos (ROH). Awards include: Olivier Award for Designer of the Year (The Plantagenets), Olivier Awards for Best Set Design (An American in Paris, Mary Poppins), Tony Awards for Best Scenic Design of a Musical (An American in Paris, Once, Mary Poppins), Tony Awards for Best Scenic Design of a Play (The Coast of Utopia, The History Boys), Tony Awards for Best Scenic Design (Aida, Carousel), The Royal Designer for Industry Award, The Robert L.B. Tobin award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatrical Design, Broadway Hall of Fame Award.