Ehrenreich delivers an astonishing Broadway debut. He's a raging, roiling alpha " a successful money manager who wields words like a battering ram, never happier than when he's engaged in fe…
And in a moment when so much theater puts on kid gloves to handle its material and its audience, it can be bracing to have a play walk right up and slap you across the face. That's how Trip …
That the show can't sustain this charge through its erratic second act is more a book issue than performance. The aftermath of Becky and Max's (unseen) date are downstream conversations betw…
Ehrenreich, a major talent who's been dealt an unfair hand by Hollywood, is given the meatiest material of the cast. But the unique charm and liveliness he brings to it is vital. His idiosyn…
On the merit of its script alone, Becky Shaw is a rousing success. Not only is it deliciously, darkly hilarious, it's excitingly clever in its simplicity. Arguably, not much happens onstage,…
Step back into the sweltering summer of 1972, New York City"a time when the Vietnam War looms large, Watergate headlines flood the news, and one man's desperate act captivates the nation. Em…
But the comic bits and the raucous sound design, which includes deafening helicopter propellers and blaring '70s pop hits, belong to a more cartoonish entertainment. While Bernthal is chewin…
Oddly, it is during that act one closer, when Sonny rallies the audience into chanting the film's famous "Attica!" cry, that the production feels most itself. It's essentially Disney for Dad…
Guirgis and director Rupert Goold have certainly leaned hard into the funny aspects of the plot"too hard. Now, this ultimately tragic story of two desperate bunglers comes off as a sitcom wi…
As a piece of stagecraft, "Dog Day Afternoon," directed by Rupert Goold, does a canny job of translating the film's logistics, keeping the flow of action taut and invigorating. But it also d…
There's been a robbery! A new Broadway play starring Jon Bernthal and Ebon Moss-Bachrach has stolen the title of the classic New York film "Dog Day Afternoon" and slapped it on a midseason-r…
Not all the well-chosen Brenda Abbandandolo costumes and David Bowie songs in the world can disguise this production's flaws. Guirgis has written plays that capture the spirit of New York Ci…
In the end, the new Dog Day Afternoon is a mostly satisfying experience that offers impressive big production values. It has the right star. It has the right set. And with a few tweaks, this…
Guirgus' "Dog Day Afternoon" is a big, hugely entertaining and laugh-filled dramedy that's crafted to delight the typical Broadway audience. The post Jon Bernthal and Ebon Moss-Bachrach Brin…
What if "Dog Day Afternoon" was actually a poor man's attempt at "The Carol Burnett Show"? That seems to be the tonally incoherent concept behind Rupert Goold's new screen-to-stage productio…
A world-famous children's author under threat. A battle of wills in the wake of a scandal. And one chance to make amends. Following an acclaimed West End run and three Olivier Awards, GIANT …
For the most part, though, Lithgow's Dahl is the sole repository of Rosenblatt's perception, which is shifting and multivalent and, even in moments of extremity, sympathetic. He weaves in in…
Nicholas Hytner directs a riveting production that feels much shorter than its two-hour, 15-minute run time, with the supporting cast rising to the high bar Lithgow sets. The post Giant on B…
Mark Rosenblatt's play Giant is brilliantly structured, quite funny and, in Nicholas Hytner's production, superbly acted by a cast led by John Lithgow. I wish it didn't irk me the way it did…
It's a credit to the direction of Nicholas Hytner " of "War Horse," "The History Boys" and other magisterial slices of Brittania " that Lithgow's titanic performance doesn't unbalance the sh…
But it's Lithgow's ability to be quiet and sweet and seconds later booming and scary that makes us squirm in our seats over our own feelings toward the writer. At times, we really do like hi…
Lithgow " so nimble and charismatic and then suddenly so imposing, with no aversion to the grotesque " knows how to bring out the insecurity that almost always festers at the center of any p…
Lithgow's portrayal of Dahl is ultimately fearsome, but the play's moral complexity marks it as more than a portrait of the artist as a difficult man. It's a provocative study in the ongoing…
Lithgow's remarkable Olivier Award-winning performance " at this point in the far-from-over Broadway season he and Every Brilliant Thing's Daniel Radcliffe seem headed for a showdown " is a …
Rosenblatt is too good at his job. He's only about 20 minutes into his play and he already delivers a great ending. Unfortunately, there's no place for the drama to go for the next two hours…