THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY Reviews

TimeOut: 4 stars

The Picture of Dorian Gray

4 out of 5 stars

Sarah Snook takes a triumphant walk on the Wilde side.

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/the-picture-of-dorian-gray-broadway-review-sarah-snook-solo-oscar-wilde

"As the play nears its end (after a cinematic chase scene that Williams has added), the narrator recedes and Dorian takes over the telling of the story—still in the third person, but without the narrator’s tone of arch remove. This final version of Dorian, tormented by fear and conscience, gets increasingly desperate and frantic as the corrosion of his soul catches up to him. And as his tale becomes more urgently personal, so does Snook’s performance: By the finale, she is speaking straight out to the audience, and we are staring right back at her actual body, not a body mediated through somebody’s lens. It’s the show’s most stunning transformation of all—the folding of multiplicity back into singularity and sincerity—and Snook makes it a thing of beauty."

NYT: Green, not a Critic's Pick

Review: Sarah Snook Stars in the Selfie of ‘Dorian Gray’

The “Succession” actress plays all 26 roles in this Oscar Wilde classic reimagined as a video spectacle. If only there were less screen time and more IRL contact.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/theater/picture-of-dorian-gray-review-snook.html

"Still, what I missed most in this “Dorian Gray” was not Wilde; I find the story as he originally wrote it brilliant but so mannered that you can only sip it slowly, like absinthe. (The novel is more conventional.) What I missed was eye contact. The audience and actor are like disputants kept in different rooms, forbidden to see each other fully. The theater is in that sense empty. She, and we, might as well not be there."

Washington Post

Sarah Snook takes on Oscar Wilde in a dazzling Broadway debut

The “Succession” star plays every part many times larger than life in “The Picture of Dorian Gray.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater/2025/03/27/sarah-snook-picture-of-dorian-gray-broadway/

"Snook’s turn in “The Picture of Dorian Gray” is a fabulous tour de force — cheeky, campy and captivating to the point of uncanny. This adaptation of the novel from director Kip Williams combines the pleasures of multiple forms — literature, fine art and video design among them — into a modern hybrid fueled by old-fashioned showmanship. Though you may ultimately feel like burying your nose in a book to make up for the glut of screen time, Snook’s tremendous performance is among the year’s best."

Theatermania

Review: The Picture of Dorian Gray Meets Facetune on Broadway

Sarah Snook stars in a solo adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s novel.

https://www.theatermania.com/news/review-the-picture-of-dorian-gray-meets-facetune-on-broadway_1768681/

"Unfortunately, Williams’s more-is-more approach also creeps into Snook’s performance, which is initially so controlled, yet ends with her whirling and wailing like a washed-up kabuki star."

That’s an interesting perspective from Green.

Theatrely

A Powerhouse Sarah Snook Takes On THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY — Review

https://www.theatrely.com/post/a-powerhouse-sarah-snook-takes-on-the-picture-of-dorian-gray-review


"Yet Snook, though tremendously bawdy and having a great time, does not find a legible Dorian to center Williams’ breathless staging. There is a brief moment, near the play’s conclusion, when live-Snook finally gets the stage to herself. As she speaks to us directly and without adornments and Dorian confesses his fear and deep self-loathing, a bit of humanity does start to seep in.

Yet all too quickly, the screens slide back onto stage, taking over again for a bravura finale. The show’s conclusion is an astonishing technical display by Snook, the camera crew and the magicians backstage. But as we’re busy being awed, it’s easy to forget what story is even being told. "

Updated On: 3/27/25 at 10:07 PM

The Wrap

‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ Broadway Review: Sarah Snook Doesn’t Paint a Pretty Portrait

The “Succession” star plays all the roles in this send-up of the Oscar Wilde classic

https://www.thewrap.com/the-picture-of-dorian-gray-broadway-review-sarah-snook/

"As for Snook, her performance goes completely over the top. It’s grand. It’s fraught. She’s no longer Dorian Gray, much less Glynis Johns. She is an actor going mad in front of our eyes. Or perhaps Snook is just showing off big time."

USA Today

'Dorian Gray' review: Sarah Snook dazzles in a dizzying high-wire act on Broadway

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2025/03/27/picture-dorian-gray-review-broadway/82633789007/

"Despite the show’s overreliance on whiz-bang technology, Snook is never anything less than jaw-dropping. The Australian actress tackles the prodigious task at hand with breathtaking precision, believably engaging in verbose conversations with her digitalized selves, and never missing a beat as she plays to each and every camera that’s ceaselessly roving and whirring around her."

B+ from Entertainment Weekly

The Picture of Dorian Gray review: Sarah Snook stuns in slick reinvention of Oscar Wilde's cautionary tale

Kip Williams' clever one-woman show adapts the classic exploration of narcissism for the digital age.

https://ew.com/the-picture-of-dorian-gray-review-broadway-sarah-snook-reinvents-oscar-wilde-11703454

Slant

Frivolity Revs Up on Broadway: ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ and ‘Operation Mincemeat’

The silliness sticks more than the pathos in The Picture of Dorian Gray.

https://www.slantmagazine.com/theater/the-picture-of-dorian-gray-operation-mincemeat-review-sarah-snook/

"Perhaps it’s because so much of the story relies in pre-recorded video that the tale’s emotional underbelly—the deep self-loathing that drives Wilde’s characterization and Dorian’s thinly shrouded queerness that marginalizes him even as he gains prestige—never really kicks in. Still, David Bergman’s virtuosic video design and Snook’s riotous rollercoaster of a 26-part performance keep The Picture of Dorian Grey riveting and compellingly ridiculous."

Observer

Review: Sarah Snook Blows Up in Multimedia Dazzler ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’

Snook gives a master class, playing 26 characters in an adaptation of the Oscar Wilde novel that's hideously apt for our age of Instagram filters and social media.

https://observer.com/2025/03/review-sarah-snook-blows-up-in-multimedia-dazzler-the-picture-of-dorian-gray/

"At this point, theater purists may throw up their hands and demand: Why pay inflated Broadway prices for what is essentially two hours of TV? To my mind, it’s sublime spectacle with impeccable dramaturgy, all spun around phenomenal acting. More, there’s an accomplished physical dimension to the piece, which is minutely choreographed (blink and you’ll miss little dance steps camera operators execute at one point while circling Dorian). There are several rolling scenic elements—including a toy puppet theater that Snook pops into from below, looking like a jolly decapitated diva. One’s eyeballs gobble up Marg Horwell’s luscious, flower-filled sets and costumes, which practically tickle your nostrils with floral aromas."

KitKatBoy24 said: "Not Redwood getting a NYT Critics Pick and The Picture of Dorian Gray not…"





Embarrassing lol