Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Michael Urie is ideally cast in a stylishly retro, fever dream staging of the Bard’s rarely staged RICHARD II

• By drediman
• November 12, 2025
• No Comments

This week, Red Bull Theater’s anticipated Off-Broadway production of William Shakespeare’s Richard II opened at the Astor Place Theatre. In fact, the production is the inaugural show at the venue following the shuttering of the long-running Blue Man Group. Over the years, Red Bull has become synonymous with visceral interpretations of the classics, and this staging — as adapted and directed by Craig Baldwin — is no different, depicting the decline and ultimate deposing of the ineffectual titular monarch as a fever dream flashback from Richard’s vantage point in his lonely prison cell (where he is eventually murdered, unceremoniously).

In the canon of Shakespeare’s History Plays and broader theatrical works, Richard II is relatively seldom performed. As the play is largely written in rhyming couplets, the language sometimes lacks the penetrating poetry and keen insights into the human condition that are the hallmarks of the Bard’s other more famous plays. Nevertheless, Baldwin’s claustrophobic, stylishly retro staging is mostly captivating, updating the piece to 1980s Manhattan and leaning in on the setting’s monetary excesses and sexual mores — as indicated by scenes in gay bathhouses and late night dance clubs — as much as its distinctive fashion aesthetic.

While the acting varies in quality across the company, Michael Urie as Richard is thankfully fantastic, upping the comedy and sardonic affects — as well as the queerness — which makes Baldwin’s production of Richard II a clever and distinctive spin on the play. Given that the adaptation is structured as a memory play that swirls around in Richard’s mind, the title character is onstage for nearly the entirety of the play, overseeing the action — even the scenes he’s not in. As such, Urie dominates the staging throughout. Even sans lines, he engages with the proceedings with his famous physicality and exaggerated facial expressions.

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RICHARD II
Off-Broadway, Play
Red Bull Theater at the Astor Place Theatre
2 hours, 30 minutes (with one intermission)
Through December 14