Jeff Daniels and Michelle Williams will return to Broadway this season to star in David Harrower's Olivier Award-winning drama BLACKBIRD. The production, to be directed by Joe Mantello.
BLACKBIRD tells the story of Una and Ray. Fifteen years earlier they had a relationship and haven't set eyes on each other since. Now she's found him again.
Without in any way glamorizing the situation, Blackbird so complicates the questions of consent and trauma and recovery -- and even love -- that it would be difficult to look at any of these subjects the same way again...Una is a victim, yes...Still, she is not so clearly innocent. As played with devastating rawness by Williams, she is alternately viperish, vengeful, sarcastic, bizarre, and desperate to reconnect...Similarly, Ray is drawn as richly and provocatively as possible, getting as far from ambient stereotypes about the pedophile personality as can reasonably be achieved...Daniels goes so deep into the man's depravity that he seems to come out the other side, in a place of honesty...Daniels...has not merely redecorated his earlier performance but done a gut job on it, starting over on deeper foundations.
They make an alarming entrance, these two, setting off instant worry and wonder. They walk as if welded together, though whether in support, restraint or combat is unclear. Her eyes are wild and her bare legs wobbly, and he leads their stuttering steps with an angry, obdurate chin. If you saw them in real life, you'd consider calling the police. As it is, your first impressions of Ray and Una -- so intensely embodied by Jeff Daniels and Michelle Williams in the Broadway production of David Harrower's 'Blackbird' -- would seem to guarantee a satisfyingly fraught night at the theater. What follows is definitely fraught, with the sort of acting that triggers seismometers. The satisfaction factor is somewhat lower.
2007 | Off-Broadway |
Original Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
2016 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2016 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Jeff Daniels |
2016 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Michelle Williams |
2016 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play | David Harrower |
2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Play | Michelle Williams |
2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Play (Broadway or off-Broadway) | Blackbird |
2016 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play | Jeff Daniels |
2016 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play | Michelle Williams |
2016 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Blackbird |
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