Mia Farrow is currently making her return to acting in Jen Silverman's two-hander comedy The Roommate, opposite Patti LuPone. The show is billed as a two-hander between the two stars, but there's actually an unnamed third role in the show. And that role stars Farrow's own son, journalist Ronan Farrow.
Fair warning: this next part contains spoilers for The Roommate.
In the show, Mia Farrow plays Sharon who, after getting divorced, finds herself alone in her house in Iowa. To ease her loneliness, she takes in a free-spirited roommate named Robyn (played by LuPone). Throughout the show, Sharon calls her son, who lives in New York City, who never picks up. So, she leaves him a series of voicemails that become more colorful as the show progresses (due to Robyn's influence on the previously straight-laced Sharon). Then, towards the end of the show, Sharon's son finally calls her back and leaves a voicemail, which the audience hears. At the Booth Theatre, the voicemail that plays features the voice of Farrow's real-life son, Ronan. The role, which was pre-recorded, is uncredited in the Playbill, but has been confirmed by the production to Playbill.
The cameo is particularly poignant considering that The Roommate is Farrow's long-awaited return to Broadway (aside from staged readings and a voice cameo, The Roommate is the first fully produced Broadway show Farrow has starred in since Romantic Comedy in 1979). The show is the first acting project that Farrow has done with her son—who is effectively making his Broadway debut with the pre-recorded performance. Though Ronan Farrow is known as a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, he does have some singing chops. He and his mother were close to the late Stephen Sondheim—so much so that in honor of Sondheim's birthday in 2020, Mia posted an impressive video of Ronan singing "Not While I'm Around" from Sweeney Todd.
The Roommate opens September 12 and plays a limited engagement through December 15. Jack O'Brien is at the helm. The Broadway production features scenic and costume design by Bob Crowley, lighting design by Natasha Katz, sound design by Mikaal Sulaiman, original music by David Yazbek, and hair, wig, and make-up design by Robert Pickens and Katie Gell. Simone Sault is movement director, and Tripp Phillips is production stage manager.
Understudy Carol Halstead also covers both actors in the show. Casting is by C12 Casting's Stephen Kopel. The work premiered at the 2015 Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville and was produced at Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2017.
