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Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman bring their talents to Broadway
BY MICHAEL SOMMERS
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
REVIEW
You may be grabbing tickets for "A Steady Rain" simply to bask in the movie-starry presence of Daniel ("007") Craig and Hugh ("Wolverine") Jackman on Broadway. But skip the celebrity angle and prepare to be ensnared by some sharp acting and an absorbing story as Keith Huff's two-character drama relentlessly darkens over the next 90 minutes.
Craig and Jackman respectively and believably depict Joey and Denny, tough Chicago cops and best friends since childhood whose brotherly relationship implodes in a sudden blitz of blunders and bad luck.
Mostly told as a series of neatly interlocking monologues, the narratives essentially deal out cable TV-style crime show content. Vice, adultery, rage and betrayal are featured elements as hard-boozing Joey reluctantly falls for the nice wife and kids of his hooker-frequenting buddy Denny. Impulsive errors chasing a vengeful pimp eventually lead them to disaster in the mean streets of Chicago.
Although the modest play is little more than a conventional cop drama, its troubled characters and the painful incidentals of their fraying ties should satisfy anybody not expecting to watch the stars interpret Shakespeare. Their expert performances lend the slick play credibility.His good looks disguised with a bad haircut and bushy mustache, Craig infuses his brooding loner Joey with a wistful sort of he-man sensitivity. Hands blurring in constant motion, Jackman's foul-mouthed Italian paisano Denny is a simmering stew of mixed emotions. The actors' interplay is swift, true and confident and their final face-off reduces the audience to a hush.
Director John Crowley, who did so well by Martin McDonagh's thriller "The Pillowman" several seasons back, stages the tale with an ever-tightening sense of approaching catastrophe. Unobtrusive production design aptly conveys the play's various locations and shifting moods.
Great drama? No. A hot show? You bet.
"A Steady Rain" continues through Dec. 6 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, 236 W. 45th St., New York, N.Y. Call (212) 239-6200 or visit www.telecharge.com.
