DOG DAY AFTERNOON Reviews

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 3/30/26 at 6:18pm

Feldman says midnight embargo lift.

Updated On: 3/30/26 at 06:18 PM

[KevinKlawitter]

Posted: 3/30/26 at 11:30pm

Mixed-negative from Matt Windman at AMNY - "The production ends up straddling two audiences without fully satisfying either"

[KevinKlawitter]

Posted: 3/31/26 at 12:41am

Adam Feldman at TimeOut is negative: "a hollow and desultory maladaptation."

NYT is mixed

Peter Hempstead of Theatremania is positive on the performances and set, negative on the script and direction

Robert Hofler of The Wrap is positive

 

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 3/31/26 at 1:01am

DTLI Consensus: This stage adaptation of the beloved 1975 crime film bungles the heist, leaning much too far into comedy and resulting in an ill-advised and tonally incoherent play.

7 negative (including the NYT), 7 mixed, 1 positive.

https://didtheylikeit.com/shows/dog-day-afternoon/

Updated On: 3/31/26 at 01:01 AM

[BoringBoredBoard40]

Posted: 3/31/26 at 1:17am

well yikes this thing has been in development for years so these reviews are kind of a bummer

[CoffeeBreak]

Posted: 3/31/26 at 1:34am

‘Dog Day’ Drama: Broadway Playwright Briefly Kept Out of Rehearsals

"A week before opening night, tensions spilled over offstage, with the show’s producing team temporarily prohibiting Stephen Adly Guirgis from entering the theater."

"Making a new Broadway show is often stressful. At “Dog Day Afternoon,” a stage adaptation of Sidney Lumet’s 1975 movie about a Brooklyn bank robbery and hostage-taking, that stress became so intense that the production’s Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright was prohibited from entering the August Wilson Theater for three days over the last week.

The show’s producing team told the playwright, Stephen Adly Guirgis, that he was no longer welcome at rehearsals after tempers flared on Friday between Guirgis and Mark Kaufman, who runs Warner Bros. Theater Ventures, an entity that is among the play’s lead producers.

The argument and the aftermath were described by three theater professionals with connections to the production and knowledge of the events, but who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were seeking to protect their relationships with those involved.

Asked for comment, the playwright and lead producers issued a joint statement saying that “the process of creating and producing a new play is always a passionate one.”

“Stephen has finalized his script after implementing all his changes, as is customary, during previews,” they said. “We are all committed to maintaining a respectful environment for everyone involved and remain very proud of what’s onstage.”

The subject of the dispute is not entirely clear, but the show was continually revised throughout the preview process, which began March 10 and involves performances for paying audiences as well as ongoing rehearsals to incorporate changes. There were tensions over the show’s running time (it is now two hours and 15 minutes long, including an intermission, which is shorter than it was at the start of previews) and its tone (early previews leaned into comedy, while the film was primarily suspenseful)."


https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/theater/dog-day-afternoon-broadway-stephen-adly-guirgis.html

Updated On: 3/31/26 at 01:34 AM

[MasterThespian 2]

Posted: 3/31/26 at 5:59am

EDSOSLO858 said: "Feldman says midnight embargo lift."

Yikes. Might want to keep that embargo in place. 

[Michelle Birnbaum]

Posted: 3/31/26 at 7:16am

Already have tickets to go with my husband and friends.  Hope we can still enjoy it at least somewhat.

[sinister teashop]

Posted: 3/31/26 at 8:40am

I'm not that surprised at the reviews but I do find it significant that a few reviewers used the NY Times Michael Paulson article, published less than a week before the show opened, about backstage conflict as a support for their negative opinion. 

No matter what you think of the play, I wonder if Paulson and the New York Times will repeat this kind of Sweaty Oracle crap before the opening of other Broadway shows.