Thomas Kail to direct Michelle Williams, Tom Sturridge, and Bryan D'Arcy James in ANNA CHRISTIE — Page 3

Williams is the actress of our generation as far as I’m concerned, and I’m sorry to hear this is awful. I was really looking forward to it.

Has this improved since the first preview? Any other reports?

I thought I posted mine from Sunday. Whoops.

I actually enjoyed it, despite the initial reviews giving me some second thoughts. It’s not mind-blowing, must-see fantastic, but it does function as a showcase for four actors to do what they do best and take a crack at a seldom-done O’Neill play, albeit one that could have benefited from adaptation and revision (it’s public domain) as opposed to a straight revival.

Williams does still look remarkably young for being 45. However, unless you missed the math in the beginning that reveals Anna is only 20, even Williams’ youthful appearance only knocks off about 10-12 years, not 25. If it were revised, though, I can’t imagine that increasing Anna’s age would be dramaturgically feasible since women in the 1920s over a certain age were expected to be married and/or were a spinster, and the fact that she’s a sex worker would make her an “old whore”.

Sturridge has always played damaged, somewhat brutish rogues well and so I could buy him as a longshoreman in his prime (though he is 39). D’Arcy James was, reliably, excellent - he can be gruff, tender, and conflicted whenever he needs to be. The Swedish accent does muddle some of his lines, but usually you can use context to piece together what was said.

I was a bit bummed by the lack of Mare Winningham, but what I did get of her was pitch perfect. She has really cornered the “folksy/Americana” market in theatre the last few years and I look forward to her on stage at any time and the first act (which she was in mostly), she made a meal out of her interplay with Michele and Brian.

Not a glass bottle in sight aside from the ones used by the actors

When is opening night?

The glass bottles are now "fenced in" at the back wall of the set. There seemed to be issues with the lighting cues last night, but when the lighting hit in just the right way, it created a really effective mise en scene with the bottles.

Overall, I thought this was very uneven. Agree that the first two acts are slogs. Act Three was by far the best of the four. The direction is unnecessarily distracting, as mentioned above. Kail seemed to be so focused on the flourishes surrounding the action that he ultimately neglected the meat of the play.

I really liked Tom Sturridge, although everyone around me was complaining they couldn't understand his accent. Michelle Williams was a disappointment, I'm sad to say. Come to think of it, I've yet to be blown away by any of her stage performances to date. I guess my favorite performance of hers was CABARET, but even then I had qualms.

The two best performances came from Brian D'Arcy James and Mare Winningham (who has nothing to do after the first act, sadly). D'Arcy James was transcendent, honestly. He delivered moments that were worth the price of admission alone. If only the rest of the proceedings were at his level.

Updated On: 12/5/25 at 11:56 AM

Can't even remember the last time I left a show at intermission. And I was from from the only one. To me, Kail's direction of Hamilton holds the show together. But between this and the worst production of Sweeney Todd I've ever sat through, I'm starting to think he's a hack.

I'll be the kind of dissenter in this to say that I sorta enjoyed it. I had no knowledge of the play beforehand and Michelle Williams's age didn't really bother me (though I'm sure it would hit differently with an actual 20 year old). And while I found the first two acts to drag a bit (I'll admit I also had some trouble with the accents), I thought the third and fourth acts brought out some really interesting moments (minus the moving of platforms that others have mentioned). It's not necessarily a show I've thought about all that much since I saw it, but I'm kind of glad I did see it. I would still be curious to have seen how Mike Faist would've fared in the role, since he seems to be a very different kind of actor than Tom Sturridge, who I thought was very well cast.

I also saw this on the 4th when there was that super long delay to open the house. Overall, I agree with most that this was underwhelming at best, but I enjoyed elements of it. I actually was more or less interested during the first Act(s), rather than the latter half and it seemed to end with kind with a whimper. I though Brian was great, enjoyed Michelle but found the part not really much to write home about, and kind of actively disliked Sturridge in a performance I found pretty one note. I didn't have any issues understanding the accents, but I can't say they added much as far as atmosphere or authenticity. The staging, while not distractingly busy for me, didn't add much and I'm so curious what this original glass bottle situation was and what the idea was behind it. In the end, I was just left with "why?" Why did this work appeal to this team? What did they want to say with it? Why this play, now? Why this role for Michelle? Why did I trek down here on this cold ass night? etc. Oh well! In the end, still glad I saw it (kind of).

I saw a towering performance of this play with Liv Ulman in my youth (mid-20s) in DC, opposite a fine John Lithgow (and Mary McCarty) and I remember then believing the talky, creaky play inaccessible for modern audiences. Along came a B'way revival with Natasha Richardson that people adored, and proved me 100% wrong. But this is a curiosity, and not only because Williams is on the other side of 40. It seems to me that it needs a radical new frame - maybe not as stylized as Van Hove or Lloyd but with a fresh POV - and this looks like a workmanlike college production.

I am looking forward to these reviews. I have two tickets that I (may) no longer need for next week.

Critic's Pick from Laura Collins-Hughes, who calls the production "luminous and mesmerizing" and says Williams "smartly and credibly makes Anna a code-switcher" (gift link)

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/14/theater/anna-christie-review-michelle-williams-on-the-waterfront.html