The Daily Mail has reported that Ben Whishaw (Mary Poppins Returns) is preparing to to portray Marilyn Monroe in a new play opening in New York City this spring.

He will star as Monroe in the new work by Anne Carson, which will be directed by Katie Mitchell at The Shed, a new arts complex that will open in Manhattan in 2019.

Whishaw also tells The Mail that soprano Renee Fleming will sing in the production.

According to the report, the partly spoken and partly sung play is based on the Greek tragedy of Helen of Troy, the beauty whose face launched a thousand ships.

The play seeks to link cultural obsession with Monroe with ancient Greek philosophy.

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