The Visit

Cast

Early announcements stated that the production would open at the Broadway Theatre, after a tryout at the Colonial Theatre in Boston for which previews were to have started on December 16, 2000, with the opening scheduled for December 28, with the run ending on January 14. But in July 2000, it was announced that the Boston run would be canceled, and that the show would start previews at the Broadway on February 24, 2001. According to news accounts at the time (including this playbill.com article from July 9, 2000, which also mentions members of the expected production team apart from director Frank Galati and choreographer Ann Reinking), the change was caused by the loss of a large chunk of the production's financing.

By July 20, it was announced that star Angela Lansbury would be withdrawing from the production "due to concerns about her husband's health" (according to this playbill.com article). By the time this article appeared, it seems that another delay had been announced, with rehearsals rescheduled to start on January 29, 2001, with an opening tentatively set for April, all of which suggests that previews would not have started till mid-March.

On August 2, 2000, a column by Michael Riedel in the New York Post reported that Glenn Close was being sought to replace Lansbury. The article also said that if Close turned down the role, producer Barry Brown would likely try to produce the show first in London, possibly starring Judi Dench or Diana Rigg. 

Another article on playbill.com, this one dated February 6, 2001, announced that the show would receive its first production at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago later that year. The article stated that there was speculation that Chita Rivera would play the leading female role at the Goodman. The article also mentioned that "Fans and media — and, perhaps to some degree, the creative team itself — had a frustrated time dreaming of who might replace the popular Lansbury in the dark role. Among names bandied about by various parties: Zoe Caldwell, Meryl Streep, Diana Rigg, Judi Dench, Bernadette Peters, Rivera, Vanessa Redgrave, Glenn Close and Shirley MacLaine." It's not clear that some of those actresses were ever considered by anyone involved in the show.