New Yorkers will not need to go to their nearest multiplex cinema to catch the latest performances by stars such as Denzel Washington, Scarlett Johansson or Christopher Walken. Instead, they will soon be able to see some of Hollywood's A-list in the flesh.

A flock of famous movie talent has swapped the sunshine and glamour of making films in Los Angeles for the more artistically rigorous demands of New York's theatre world.

Washington is starring in a new revival of Fences, a play by American writer August Wilson, which opens next month. Johansson and Liev Schreiber are already starring in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge.

Walken's performance as a deranged killer in Martin McDonagh's new play, A Behanding in Spokane, is also drawing in big crowds. Other current or recent big names appearing on stage include Laura Linney (Time Stands Still), Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman (A Steady Rain) and Jude Law (Hamlet).

Many Hollywood stars claim that appearing on stage represents a purer form of acting than celluloid and boosts their credibility as thespians, not mere film stars. "The first thing I want to do is more theatre. The second thing I want to do is direct movies. Acting in movies is now No 3 on the list," Washington told the New York Post tabloid recently.

But there may be a more prosaic reason. Hollywood studios are currently in the middle of an economic crisis. Studios have been hit by the lingering impact of the 2008 Hollywood strike and then the deep bite of the recession.

Despite recent mega-hits such as Avatar, many studios are cutting costs and binning new film projects. MGM, for example, released just one movie last year, and some industry watchers think it is teetering on the verge of collapse. The famed independent movie studio Miramax is up for sale after huge job losses. It too slashed the number of films it is releasing.

Attention and interest

At the same time many top Hollywood stars have seen a drop in their ability to demand massive wages for a movie. Lucrative deals where stars took a first cut of a film's box office have all but disappeared. In short, a lot of film stars are finding work and cash a little harder to come by. No wonder a spell on Broadway suddenly looks good.

New York's theatre world is, however, welcoming them with open arms, despite a little behind-the-scenes grumbling from some of the city's thousands of perennially under-employed actors.

Attaching a big name to a play guarantees press attention and a healthy public interest. If the names are big enough it can even make a production "review-proof" as audiences will flock to see the stars whatever the reviews. Many New York theatres and producers are now basing their business model around short-run plays with big star names.

"It is nice to have such an influx of stars coming to Broadway. It does help the business. They can help draw an audience and that will help any producer," said Dan Bacalzo, managing editor of Theatremania, a leading New York-based theatre website.

Certainly some plays clearly do much better with star names than without. When a recent production of God of Carnage opened with an all-star cast, including James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden, it played to packed houses.

But when its cast switched to a group of highly praised but lesser-known actors, its take dropped and during the usual bonanza of Christmas week the once packed-out play was showing in front of a house at only 69 per cent capacity.

Lucy Liu, star of the Charlie's Angels movies, has now been brought into the show.

Of course, being a famous movie star does not always mean someone can act in the theatre, especially when swapping the pampered movie world of multiple takes and reshoots for the brutal and unforgiving arena of live performance.

Yet many recent film stars have also drawn rave reviews, especially Walken, Law and Johansson. "I think if anybody was annoyed that Scarlett Johansson was here, they should go and see A View From The Bridge. She has been excellent in that part," said Bacalzo.

Future and current productions:
 

  • Denzel Washington is starring in an upcoming production of the play Fences.
  • Scarlett Johansson is earning rave reviews in A View From The Bridge.
  • Laura Linney is playing a war photographer in Time Stands Still.
  • Lucy Liu is appearing in God of Carnage (right).
  • James Spader is starring in David Mamet's Race.
  • Christopher Walken is the lead role in the gruesome new play A Behanding in Spokane. Anthony Mackie, who starred in the Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker, is playing opposite Walken.
  • John Lithgow is in Mr and Mrs Fitch.