Topdog/Underdog, a darkly comic fable of brotherly love and family identity, tells the story of two brothers, Lincoln and Booth , names given to them as a joke by their father. Haunted by the past and their obsession with the street con game, three-card monte, the brothers come to learn the true nature of their history. Susan-Lori Parks’ Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece Topdog/Underdog returns to Broadway for its 20th Anniversary production.
Topdog/Underdog is the sound of the streets, the sound of hip-hop, the sound of Black poverty Black tragedy, and importantly, Black joy; it's tough, it's gritty, it's lyrical, it's beautiful, it's poetry. And it requires two actors who can do its lyricism justice. For this 20th anniversary production, the play has found its perfect conduits in Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta Compton, In the Heights) and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (HBO's Watchmen, The Matrix Resurrections).
The two actors have excellent chemistry and are believable in their brotherhood and shared pain. Parks' writing-the way she builds and releases tension; constructs vivid histories out of thin air; broadens the scope of her story without ever losing sight of the people onstage-is still excellent; that won't change. But a production of Topdog/Underdog should feel like American mythology, something worthy of the text's well-earned Lincoln/Booth-Cain/Abel comparisons. The dramatic drapery Maldonado places around the studio apartment suggest something bigger, a grand veil of theatricality covering a national schism. Much of the production, however, only gets at the world's best-looking arcade exhibit.
2022 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2023 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Yahya Abdul-Mateeh II |
2023 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Corey Hawkins |
2023 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Direction of a Play | Kenny Leon |
2023 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Play | Topdog/Underdog |
2023 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Costume Design (Play or Musical) | Dede Ayite |
2023 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Play | Kenny Leon |
2023 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Play | Corey Hawkins |
2023 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Play | Topdog/Underdog |
2023 | Theatre World Awards | Theatre World Awards | Yahya Abdul-Mateen II |
2023 | Tony Awards | Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play | Yaha Abdul-Mateen II |
2023 | Tony Awards | Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play | Corey Hawkins |
2023 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Topdog/Underdog |
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