BBC News Online: Entertainment: Arts

Newman returns to stage

Newman divides his time between acting and racing

The veteran star of the Hustler, the Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid will appear in Thornton Wilder's Our Town at the Westport Country Playhouse next month.

Wife Joanne Woodward is the artistic director at the theatre, which is near their south Connecticut home.

But the actress revealed her stellar husband was not the obvious first choice for the lead role of stage manager in the play.

Woodward said she did not think of her husband for the lead when she chose the play to open the theatre's season.

"It wouldn't have dawned on me to ask him," Woodward confided.

Woodward 'stunned'

When they discussed the play a few months ago, Newman insisted: "I could play that role."

Woodward replied: "And I said, 'Of course, you could', and then I went and took a bath.

"When I came back into the room, he said, 'Listen to this a minute', and then he recited the whole first speech," Woodward said.

"I was stunned."

Our Town won the Pulitzer Prize in 1938, and is set in 1903 in New Hampshire, exploring the nature of everyday pleasures.