A timely and gripping Broadway premiere from Tony Award® nominee Dominique Morisseau (Ain’t Too Proud, Pipeline). In 2008 Detroit, a small automotive factory is on the brink of foreclosure, and a tight knit family of workers hangs in the balance. With uncertainty everywhere, the line between blue collar and white collar becomes blurred, and this working family must reckon with their personal loyalties, their instincts for survival and their ultimate hopes for humanity. The New York Times gives this astonishing work a Critic’s Pick and cheers, “A very fine new play… warm-blooded, astute, deeply moral and deeply American.” And The Amsterdam News hails it as “a prime example of how theatre imitates life… intense, touching and funny.” Directing is MTC’s Tony-winning Artistic Advisor Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Lackawanna Blues, August Wilson’s Jitney).
The production, too, rests on Rashad's presence. Dirden is good (as he always is) at showing thought-in-action: You can see doubts shudder through his body even when his back is turned. The audience and the Friedman Theatre, though, need an operatic figure to focus all that space - and Rashad is it. Rashad's Faye wears baggy jeans and a shlumpy sweatshirt, and when she walks, she favors her back, like a woman who has done manual labor for a long time. But then, when Rashad turns her head suddenly, she looks like a queen. At its root, Skeleton Crew is about finding dignity - both in work and in the relationships between people - and it's useful, therefore, to have a person onstage who can gather majesty around her like a shawl. Rashad might seem to stop being Faye in these moments, but it doesn't break the show. She takes on the spirit of the underlying play, becoming something like the personification of labor itself. She turns into something larger and more commanding than the merely individual drama around her, and all of Broadway turns to look.
If some of the grit has been lost in Skeleton Crew's refurbished Broadway form, which also includes flashy video effects, Morisseau's play remains firmly based in the lives and evocative language of its characters, whom Santiago-Hudson treats with the respect they deserve. They're flawed but decent people, driven by forces that may or may not be beyond their control.
2022 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
West End |
West End |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2022 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Play | Brandon J. Dirden |
2022 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Play | Phylicia Rashad |
2022 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | Joshua Boone |
2022 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Play | Skeleton Crew |
2022 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Awards | Phylicia Rashad |
2022 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Play | Skeleton Crew |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Play | Ruben Santiago-Hudson |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | Brandon J. Dirden |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Chanté Adams |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Phylicia Rashad |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Broadway Play | Skeleton Crew |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play | Phylicia Rashad |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Skeleton Crew |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Scenic Design of a Play | Michael Carnahan |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Scenic Design of a Play | Nicholas Hussong |
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