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.
He hulks, but looks more freaked out than scary. She may once have had the delicacy of a forest creature, but the ravages of survival have hardened her into a dried bundle of twigs. They are both so wired, so damaged, so residually attractive that the current between them seems to singe whatever protective shields they thought they wore before he rushed her into the employee lunchroom...Whatever doubts I had about Jeff Daniels' return to a character he played Off-Broadway in 2007, this riveting, visceral, uncompromising revival makes misgivings irrelevant. Again directed by the peerless Joe Mantello and now co-starring the extraordinary Michelle Williams, the drama feels more psychologically profound...Williams, who wipes away all bad memories of her Broadway debut in 'Cabaret,' matches him layer for complicated layer as Una.
Michelle Williams's girlish and haunted face is so eloquent in 'Blackbird,' you might wish you had binoculars for a closer look...Williams's Broadway debut, in 'Cabaret,' was so wispy she practically disappeared, but now she's commanding. She's believable and shattering as this damaged young woman. Daniels, ideally cast as an average guy-next-door, is her match. He convinces as a man on the edge, a shifty bird on a wire. The play itself isn't quite as successful...it takes time to settle into believable rhythms...Still, 'Blackbird' is taut, twisty and provocative. There's value in works that make your mind fly to uncomfortable places and send out cries you can't unhear.
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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