Denzel Washington’s ‘Othello’ breaks Broadway box office record
“Othello,” now playing on Broadway and starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, achieved a weekly gross of more than $2.8 million.
Cheddar
NEW YORK – “Othello” has fast become Broadway’s most impossible ticket, although it’s easy to see why.
The play, which opened March 23 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, is a formidable showcase for Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, even if the uninspired production around them leaves much to be desired.
The first Broadway revival of William Shakespeare’s tragedy in more than four decades, “Othello” follows a venerated Marine Corps general (Washington) who is driven to jealousy and rage by his conniving junior officer, Iago (Gyllenhaal). Incensed when he is passed over for a promotion, Iago sets out to poison Othello against his virtuous young wife, Desdemona (Molly Osborne), claiming she is having an affair with the handsome lieutenant Cassio (Andrew Burnap).
The cast is uniformly excellent. Osborne painfully conveys Desdemona’s distress and confusion over her husband’s unfounded accusations, while it’s impossible to take your eyes off the tremendous Burnap, who brings pathos and magnetism to the caddish Cassio. Kimber Elayne Sprawl also wows as Iago’s defiant wife Emilia, who becomes increasingly jaded over the ways in which women are oppressed and degraded.
Washington, 70, has established himself as one of America’s most vital Shakespeare interpreters, having starred in both stage and screen iterations of “Coriolanus,” “Macbeth,” “Julius Caesar” and “Much Ado About Nothing.” He starts “Othello” on somewhat unsure footing: at times garbling his words, racing through dialogue and listlessly ambling in and out of scenes. But he settles in as the play goes on, capturing Othello’s creeping insecurities over both his race and old age. And as the action hurtles toward its inevitable bloodshed, Washington places the audience in a ferocious chokehold that never lets up.
The two-time Oscar winner is fearsome and towering, for sure, although this production ultimately belongs to Gyllenhaal, 44. Despite being one of Hollywood’s most recognizable names, the actor has always felt somewhat underappreciated: Outside of a British Academy Film Award (BAFTA) for “Brokeback Mountain” in 2006, he has somehow never won a major industry prize. But here, Gyllenhaal mesmerizes in a career-best performance that taps into the infinite well of his talent, portraying Iago’s scorching resentment, guile and humor. Even when he is quietly stewing on the edge of the stage, you can see his eyes blazing with bitter vengeance.
With an ensemble as mighty as this, it’s a shame that director Kenny Leon’s prosaic staging feels like such an afterthought, given his artful recent work on “Our Town” and “Purlie Victorious.” An opening title card announces that the story is set in a vague “near future,” where the men dress like Murray Hill bros, while the women look as if they stepped out of a Talbots catalog. (And please, dear God, it’s time for a moratorium on army fatigues in modern Shakespeare productions.) Derek McLane’s scenic design is frustratingly rote – mostly consisting of moving columns – although lighting designer Natasha Katz manages to create some stunning silhouettes as the violence ramps up in the second act.
One could argue that the staging is deliberately spare, so as not to pull focus from the performances. But after similarly muddled productions of “Macbeth,” with Daniel Craig, and “Romeo and Juliet,” with Rachel Zegler, is it too much to ask for a Shakespeare revival with something more to say?
“Othello” is now playing at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre (243 W. 47th Street) through June 8, 2025.
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