‘Othello’ With Denzel Washington & Jake Gyllenhaal: Once Again Iago Gets The Last Laugh – Broadway Review
deadline.comOpening night: March 23, 2025Venue: Broadway’s Barrymore TheatreWritten by: William ShakespeareDirected by: Kenny LeonCast: Denzel Washington, Jake Gyllenhaal, Molly Osborne, Andrew Burnap, Anthony Michael Lopez, Daniel Pearce, Kimber Elayne Sprawl, Neal Bledsoe, Julee Cerda, Ezra Knight, Gene Gillette, Rob Heaps, and William Connell, Ty Fanning, Ben Graney, Daniel Reece, Christina Sajous, Greg Wood, with swing Abiola Obatolu. Running time: 2 hr 35 min (with intermission)Deadline’s takeaway: Othello, director Kenny Leon’s new Broadway staging of one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies starring two of our greatest actors – Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal – in two of the Bard’s best roles doesn’t take too long to recover from an odd misstep: the projection of words onto a back wall suggesting the time is The Near Future.
The modern-dress production – a practice that’s become so common among stagings of Shakespeare over recent decades that the disclaimer is anything but necessary.
Indeed, I’m not sure when I last saw a Shakespeare in period dress, unless & Juliet counts. But that Near Future will cast an unfortunate, possibly unintended pall over the production two hours and 35 minutes later, but more about that then.
In the meantime, best just forget the gimmicky time-setting and get on with the show. Or, more to the point, get on to the performances.
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