Denzel Washington to star as Othello; 'Spamalot,' 'Days of Wine and Roses' to close

There's good news and bad news on Broadway. First, the good news: Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal will star in "Othello" next spring. Now the bad: Producers of the revival of the Monty Python musical “Spamalot" and the dramatic musical “Days of Wine and Roses" each posted closing notices on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, producers of "Othello" announced that Oscar winner Washington will play the title role of the noble moor in the Shakespeare tragedy and Gyllenhaal will portray the villainous Iago. Kenny Leon will direct the production which will run at an as-yet-unnamed Shubert theater. Additional casting will be announced at a later date.

Meanwhile, “Spamalot," a sendup of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table that stars Alex Brightman as Lancelot and Tony Award winner James Monroe Iglehart as King Arthur, will play its final performance on April 7. The show began previews at the St. James Theatre on Oct. 31 and opened on Nov. 16. The original production, which starred Hank Azaria, Christian Borle, Tim Curry and David Hyde Pierce, played 1,575 performances during its run from March 2005 to January 2009 and won the best musical Tony.

Meanwhile, the limited run of “Days of Wine and Roses" starring Brian d'Arcy James and Kelli O'Hara and based on the 1962 movie about a couple struggling with alcoholism, will close four weeks ahead of schedule on March 31. When it wraps, it will have played 25 previews and 73 regular performances.

Also on Wednesday, producers of the revival of “Doubt: A Parable" announced that the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama starring Liev Schreiber and Amy Ryan opening Thursday will extend its limited run another week. The drama about an uncompromising nun who suspects a priest of inappropriate behavior with a student at an all-boys Catholic school will now run through April 21 instead of April 14.