James Earl Jones headed back to Broadway

As this Broadway season draws to a close, big news arrives about the next.

It was announced Thursday that James Earl Jones will return to Broadway later this year in a revival of the classic Kaufman and Hart comedy You Can't Take It With You. Jones, 83, who last appeared on the Main Stem in a 2012 production of Gore Vidal's The Best Man, will play Martin Vanderhof, a cheerful grandfather (referred to in the play as Grandpa).

George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart are currently being portrayed in Broadway, in fact, in James Lapine's adaptation of Hart's memoir Act One. Jones, despite his age, has kept busy on the New York stage himself in recent years, appearing before The Best Man in stagings of Driving Miss Daisy (2010) and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (2008).

The new production of You Can't Take It With You will be directed by Scott Ellis, and is due to begin previews in August and open Sept. 28.