Julia Roberts to return to Broadway with Paul Rudd in SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS

Julia Roberts will return to Broadway for the first time since 2006, appearing with Paul Rudd in the first Broadway production of Bess Wohl’s SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS. Announced on 8 September 2026, the production will begin previews at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on 18 February 2027 and open on 18 March. Bess Wohl wrote the play, and Joe Mantello will direct.

The complete company comprises Martin Freeman, Greta Lee, Sarah Paulson, Isaac Powell, Roberts and Rudd. Published casting assigns Freeman the role of Jan, Lee as Alicia, Paulson as Judy, Powell as Rodney, Roberts as Joan and Rudd as Ned.

Roberts’s only previous Broadway production was THREE DAYS OF RAIN in 2006, in which she appeared alongside Rudd and Bradley Cooper. SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS will therefore reunite Roberts and Rudd on a Broadway stage for the first time in more than two decades. Broadway News identifies the new engagement as Freeman’s Broadway debut, creating a different career first within the same company.

At the centre of Wohl’s comedy are six strangers attending a silent spiritual retreat. The play uses extensive stretches of silence as a central theatrical device, limiting the spoken exchanges that would ordinarily carry much of a stage narrative. Physical performance consequently does more of the communicative work as the characters attempt the retreat. Gesture, movement and the interactions among all six performers are integral to the play’s design rather than incidental pauses between conventional dialogue.

SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS premiered Off-Broadway at Ars Nova in 2015 under the direction of Rachel Chavkin. The play returned Off-Broadway at the Pershing Square Signature Center in 2016. Although it has previously had two New York stagings, the 2027 Ethel Barrymore engagement is its first Broadway production. Chavkin directed the earlier productions, while Mantello is directing the newly announced Broadway staging.

The Broadway premiere follows a major awards year for Wohl. Her play LIBERATION won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2026 Tony Award for Best Play. Those honours have elevated Wohl’s profile ahead of the Broadway arrival of SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS, an earlier work with its own production history and creative team.

Mantello’s announced team includes scenic designer Chloe Lamford, costume designer An D’Huys, lighting designer Jack Knowles and sound designer Tom Gibbons. Caroline Shaw is the composer, while JA Collective will create the movement. The movement credit is especially pertinent to a play that places unusual weight on physical performance, while the music and sound departments will work within a form built around extensive silence.

Mantello also connects SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS to DOWNSTATE, another Broadway production being marketed through the same ticketing initiative. He will direct both productions. The New York Times reports that Scott Rudin and Barry Diller are producing both shows, giving the paired offer a producing and directorial link as well as a commercial one.

The initial offer is scheduled to open at noon ET on 10 September 2026 and run until 11.59 pm ET on 24 September, unless its allocated inventory is exhausted earlier. A customer who buys a qualifying DOWNSTATE ticket costing at least $150 will receive access to purchase one selected SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS ticket for $250. The terms allow a maximum of four tickets per customer. The size of the allocated inventory has not been disclosed, so availability cannot be assessed in advance.

The paired offer applies to selected SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS performances from 19 February to 17 June 2027, excluding Saturdays. Its first eligible date falls one day after Broadway previews begin. The 17 June endpoint refers only to the performances selected for this ticket offer and must not be treated as the production’s closing date. It neither confirms that the production will close on that date nor establishes the full length of the Broadway engagement.

The DOWNSTATE purchase condition applies only to this early paired offer. It will not be a requirement for all SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS tickets: a separate general sale is planned for late October 2026. The production has not announced the exact date of that sale or the broader ticket-price range. The September window therefore provides a specific early-access route rather than serving as the production’s general ticket release.

The New York Times characterises SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS and DOWNSTATE as part of Rudin’s return to active Broadway producing after a self-imposed absence that followed reporting about workplace bullying. That context is separate from the authorship of Wohl’s play. Official production materials identify Wohl as the playwright, with Rudin and Diller involved as producers.

Official ticket information advises prospective audiences that SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS contains mature content, including nudity. Performances will also be phone-free, with audience members required to secure their devices in Yondr pouches. These conditions apply to the Broadway production independently of whether tickets are obtained through the paired offer or the later standalone sale.

No closing date or confirmed total engagement length has been announced. The reviewed materials cover only the New York Broadway production and contain no Australian production, transfer or touring dates, nor any announced cinema capture or streaming release. For Australian audiences following the Broadway development, the production remains an international engagement only. The next announced ticketing step is the standalone general sale planned for late October, with its exact date and prices still to come.

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