Alert – Robert Downey Jr. to make Broadway debut in new play McNeal… 41 years after starring in a musical that opened and closed the same night

Robert Downey Jr. proudly announced he’ll make his Broadway debut in Pulitzer Prize winner Ayad Akhtar’s new play McNeal produced by the Lincoln Center Theater.

‘I knew I wanted to do Ayad’s new play before I was done reading it, then hearing [Tony winner Bartlett Sher] would be directing at the Beaumont theater sealed the deal,’ the 59-year-old Oscar winner – who boasts 113.3M social media followers – wrote on Tuesday.

‘It’s been 40 years since I was last on “the boards,” but hopefully I’ll knock the dust off quick. McNeal is a timely and important story about the future of creatives, and I intend to do it justice.’

Robert takes on the titular role of fictional writer and ‘perpetual candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature’ Jacob McNeal who struggles with ‘an estranged son, a new novel, old axes to grind, and an unhealthy fascination with AI.’

‘McNeal is a startling and wickedly smart examination of the inescapable humanity – and increasing inhumanity – of the stories we tell.’

Robert Downey Jr. proudly announced he’ll make his Broadway debut in Pulitzer Prize winner Ayad Akhtar’s new play McNeal produced by the Lincoln Center Theater (pictured April 9)

Previews for the strictly limited engagement begin September 5 and it runs September 30-November 24 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in Manhattan’s Upper West Side neighborhood.

The rest of the cast will be announced at a later date, but tickets for general admission officially go on sale starting May 21 at 12pm ET.

Downey Jr. is also executive producing McNeal with his wife of 18 years – Susan Levin Downey – who co-founded their production company Team Downey a decade ago.

Here’s hoping it goes better than the former Brat Packer’s prior play, Patricia Birch’s off-Broadway musical American Passion, which opened and closed on the same night – July 10, 1983 – (after 42 previews) at the Joyce Theater in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood.

Robert currently executive produces and stars as four different characters in Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar’s seven-episode spy thriller The Sympathizer, which airs Sundays on Max.

Each of Downey Jr.’s antagonistic characters reportedly represent a different arm of the American establishment.

Cowboy Bebop star Hoa Xuande plays the main character – a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy during the final days of the Vietnam War and his resulting exile in the United States.

The small-screen adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2015 debut novel also features Sandra Oh, Kieu Chinh, Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen, Hoa Xuande, Fred Nguyen Khan, Toan Le, Vy Le, and Alan Trong.

The 59-year-old Oscar winner wrote on Tuesday: ‘I knew I wanted to do Ayad’s new play before I was done reading it, then hearing [Tony winner Bartlett Sher] would be directing at the Beaumont theater sealed the deal’

Robert continued: ‘It’s been 40 years since I was last on “the boards,” but hopefully I’ll knock the dust off quick. McNeal is a timely and important story about the future of creatives, and I intend to do it justice’ (pictured April 13) 

Downey Jr. takes on the titular role of fictional writer and ‘perpetual candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature’ Jacob McNeal who struggles with ‘an estranged son, a new novel, old axes to grind, and an unhealthy fascination with AI’

Previews for the strictly limited engagement begin September 5 and it runs September 30-November 24 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater (pictured April 23) in Manhattan

The former Brat Packer is also executive producing McNeal with his wife of 18 years – Susan Levin Downey (L) – who co-founded their production company Team Downey a decade ago

Here’s hoping it goes better than Robert’s prior play, Patricia Birch’s off-Broadway musical American Passion, which opened and closed on the same night – July 10, 1983 – (after 42 previews) at the Joyce Theater in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood

Downey Jr. currently executive produces and stars as four different characters in Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar’s seven-episode spy thriller The Sympathizer, which airs Sundays on Max