Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Were they worth it?: The stars jack up the prices for Broadway’s OTHELLO, GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS, and GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK

• By drediman
• May 9, 2025
• No Comments

Currently on Broadway, a trio of plays have been criticized for capitalizing on the A-list actors starring in them, jacking up ticket prices to levels inaccessible to most theatergoers. Here are my thoughts on whether these theatrical events are worth the exorbitant price of their admission (although you can probably already guess my general assessment).

OTHELLO
Ethel Barrymore Theatre
Through June 8

Perhaps the most negatively publicized of these three very expensive shows is Othello starring film starts Denzel Washington in the title role and Jake Gyllenhaal as Iago. Charging up to a staggering $900 (before fees) for prime orchestra seats, this revival of Shakespeare’s tragedy is the most pricey of the bunch. To be fair, it’s actually not as terrible as the reviews would lead you to believe, which were perhaps in knee jerk reaction to the ultra-steep ticket prices rather than the drama onstage. Indeed, this is a serviceable performance of the play, albeit with some strange choices made along the way to the Barrymore stage. For example, Washington goes the extra mile to make sure his Othello is likable — even in the character’s most unlikeable moments — which at times works against the play’s carefully calibrated escalation of tension. Similarly, Gyllenhaal injects a causal joviality that undermines Iago’s villainy; even his private asides to the audience feel like afterthoughts rather than essential entry points into the character’s depraved soul. Easily best of all as Desdemona is the relative newcomer Molly Osborne, who makes a strong case for the character’s steely resolve; in her hands, Desdemona meets her tragic death in angry disbelief rather than submission. Overall, Kenny Leon’s vague, light touch production seems to intentionally downplay the high stakes drama of the piece. Bragging rights aside not worth, I’d say this one’s not worth the price of admission.

GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS
Palace Theatre
Through June 28

Charging a mere $550 for the best seats in the house is the starry Broadway revival of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross. Arguably Mamet’s best and most famous work, the play is a ferocious look at masculinity at its most toxic. Unimaginatively directed by Patrick Marber (who did such a fantastic job staging Tom Stoppard’s Tony-winning Leopoldstadt), the production looks oddly out of place on the huge stage of the Palace Theatre. That being said, the actors actually don’t do the play a disservice, starting with Oscar-winner Kieran Culkin, who dials down the machismo of the play’s central character in favor of a more nimble interpretation, which may be misconstrued as tentativeness in the 1,600-plus seat theater. Much more comfortable in Mamet’s world is Bob Odenkirk, whose turn as a brashly over-confident salesman steals the show with his flashy, almost syncopated take on the playwright’s crass lingual riffs. That being said, this rendition of Glengarry Glen Ross isn’t the most dynamite performance I’ve seen of the classic play — that would be the 2013 Broadway revival starring Al Pacino and Bobby Cannavale or the 2001 production at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre featuring terrific ensemble members Tracy Letts and Alan Wilder. The final assessment is that this one’s definitely not worth the price tag, as well, especially for a production as safe and middle-of-the-road as this one is.

GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK
Winter Garden Theatre
Through June 8

Then there’s Good Night, and Good Luck, the George Clooney vehicle that’s selling its very best seats for a whopping $835 per ticket. Doing the math, that amounts to a little less than $10 per minute — the show clocks in at only 90 minutes — making it the most expensive show on Broadway based on that metric. Adapted from the 2005 movie of the same name (directed by Clooney) — which chronicles the battle royal between CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow (played in the film by David Strathairn) and Senator Joseph McCarthy as it relates to the McCarthy’s out-of-line Senate investigation — the large-scale theatrical version by Clooney and Grant Heslov arrives at a time when we unfortunately all need to be reminded of the message to take action when called for. While Clooney’s Broadway debut as Murrow doesn’t necessarily grab you by the collar, it’s a stately performance that’s perfectly in character. David Cromer’s sprawling yet subtle multimedia staging fills the wide Winter Garden Theatre stage beautifully, inserting the action into pretty much every nook and cranny of Scott Pask’s impressive two-tiered set. Given the craft and thoughtfulness that have gone into the production, it’s no surprise that it’s the only show on this list to receive any nomination nods — five of them, deservedly — from the Tony voters. That being said, although it’s the most satisfying of the three, I’d ultimately recommend saving a pretty penny and watching Clooney’s excellent movie at home, instead.