Matthew Broderick to make West End debut

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Matthew Broderick will make his West End debut this summer.

The 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' actor will star opposite 'Downton Abbey' actress Elizabeth McGovern in the UK premiere of Kenneth Lonergan's 2009 play 'The Starry Messenger', which is about Mark Williams, an astronomy lecturer at the Hayden Planetarium in New York.

Matthew has been friends with the playwright since their school days and he revealed the production is loosely based on the teacher of a class they once took together at the planetarium.

He told the Daily Mail newspaper: "There was a teacher, and Kenny says the character was loosely based on that guy. We didn't know anything about him, so it's really a made-up person

"[It is] a study of a guy in middle age, in a mid‑life crisis."

Matthew - who has son James, 16, and twin daughters Marion and Tabitha, nine, with wife Sarah Jessica Parker - has previously played the role in an Off-Broadway production and has number of New York theatre credits to his name, including 'The Producers' and 'Torch Song Trilogy'.

He has had a couple of "almost coming to London times", especially with 'The Producers' but they have never come to fruition until now.

While he is excited about making his first stage debut in the English capital, he's trying not to think too much about it because he doesn't want nerves to get the better of him.

He said: "If I thought about it, I'd be petrified...

"We did 'The Starry Messenger' for a pretty short time and we always wanted to try it again."

The 56-year-old star has seen "every 'Downton Abbey' show" and is excited about discussing the upcoming movie spin-off with his new co-star, who portrayed the Countess of Grantham in the period drama series.