Denzel Washington, two-time Academy Award winner and Tony Award winner, returns to Broadway in one of the signal roles in the American theatre in Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh, for 14 weeks only.
Frank Rich of The New York Times raved, "the word 'masterwork' is not invoked lightly. Eugene O'Neill's tragic vision remains undiminished by time. The Iceman Cometh is a ferocious American classic that has lost none of its power to send one shaking into the middle of the night." Beginning March 22, 2018, Denzel Washington, fresh off his extraordinary sell-out runs in both Fences and A Raisin in the Sun, comes back to the Main Stem in "the greatest American play" (New York Magazine) by "the greatest American playwright" (The Washington Post).
Five-time Tony winner George C. Wolfe directs this strictly limited engagement.
"Before Eugene O'Neill, America had entertainment; after him, it had drama." John Lahr, The New Yorker
"Eugene O'Neill did nothing less than re-invent - or rather invent - the American theater." - Sarah Churchwell, The Guardian
"The Iceman Cometh ranks among the theater's finest works. One final salute to a notable drama by a man who writes with the heart and wonder of a poet." - Brooks Atkinson, The New York Times
The revival of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh-now at the Bernard B. Jacobs under the direction of George C. Wolfe and strapped with heavy starpower in Denzel Washington-is the kind of production that puts prospective audience members off 'classics' for good. Whether you're a card-carrying member of the O'Neill Society or you simply flipped a coin at the TKTS booth, you'd be within your rights to run screaming from the theater by the first of the show's two intermissions. If, however, you decided to stick around for the whole moribund, infuriating ride, you might find yourself wondering why this play is considered a classic at all, how it's earned a place on a shelf so high that, these days, we can't get to it without sending up little hot-air balloons of reverence. You might be angry not only at the clumsy production but-blasphemy!-O'Neill's play itself.
Each of the four acts plays in real time. Wolfe's approach is occasionally to suggest the surface realism of 'Iceman,' but more often he is stripping it away to expose the play's absurdist core. Maybe this is the 'Iceman' that Samuel Beckett saw in his mind's eye that led him to write his own masterpieces, particularly 'Waiting for Godot.' Illusion and reality. O'Neill and Beckett's characters are flattened by the one, and so they can't live without the other.
1946 | Broadway |
Broadway |
1956 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
1973 | Broadway |
Broadway |
1985 | Broadway |
Broadway |
1999 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
2015 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway Off-Broadway |
2018 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2018 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | David Morse |
2018 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Denzel Washington |
2018 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play | The Iceman Cometh |
2018 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | David Morse |
2018 | Tony Awards | Best Costume Design of a Play | Ann Roth |
2018 | Tony Awards | Best Direction of a Play | George C. Wolfe |
2018 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Play | Jules Fisher |
2018 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play | David Morse |
2018 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play | Denzel Washington |
2018 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | The Iceman Cometh |
2018 | Tony Awards | Best Scenic Design of a Play | Santo Loquasto |
2018 | Tony Awards | Best Sound Design of a Play | Dan Moses Schreier |
Videos