Broadway Blog - Review Roundup: A STEADY RAIN

Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman star in one of the most anticipated theatrical event of the season: A Steady Rain. This new American play by Keith Huff tells the story of two Chicago cops who are lifelong friends and whose differing accounts of a few harrowing days change their lives forever. Directing is John Crowley.

David Rooney, Variety: "We've seen characters like the men in "A Steady Rain" before -- frustrated city patrolmen dreaming about making detective, maybe bending the law a little yet convinced they're doing an honest job. And we've seen variations on their downward spiral and partner conflict in gritty cop shows from "NYPD Blue" through "The Wire" to "Southland." But playwright Keith Huff recharges those familiar elements by approaching events usually outlined in action terms with the probing eye of a forensics investigator and psych profiler combined. Pair that with John Crowley's taut production, not to mention actors with the charisma and command of Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman, and you get riveting theater."

Elysa Gardner, USA Today: "The events informing A Steady Rain (* * *½ out of four) would make a heck of an action movie. And the cast of Keith Huff's new drama, which opened Tuesday at Broadway's Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, consists of two superstars who have ample experience in that arena ... Huff's briskly absorbing script has its clichés and contrivances, but Denny and Joey are drawn with such earthy wit and non-patronizing compassion that Rain never rings false or superficial. It's hard to imagine a better vehicle for two actors who clearly don't need larger-than-life characters to deliver grand performances."

Ben Brantley, The New York Times: "'A Steady Rain,' which opened on Tuesday night at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater, is probably best regarded as a small, wobbly pedestal on which two gods of the screen may stand in order to be worshiped."

Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press: "And while both men, particularly Craig, acquit themselves well, they can't turn the 90-minute evening into anything more than a chance to see two big-time movie stars emoting up close in a pulpy, plot-heavy entertainment."

Charles McNulty, The LA Times: "But under John Crowley's spare and precise direction, the actors earn their adulation, magnifying what's most gripping about Huff's writing even when the drama, stretched thin with bang-bang incident, becomes considerably less believable over time. And for those worried about authenticity, fear not: Although Jackman is from Australia and Craig is from England, they slip into the American reality of their characters as if it were a second skin."

David Sheward, Backstage: "Jackman and Craig endow Denny and Joey with a deep history, vivifying Huff's backstory. Jackman displays an almost animalistic rage that comes from a different place than Wolverine's. Denny cares deeply for his family, and that provides the justification for his criminal actions. Jackman pulls off an acting miracle in managing to make this violent racist sympathetic. Craig gives Joey the same demons but convincingly portrays his questioning, unsatisfied nature, which forces him to fight them. Incidentally, there is no trace of the stars' Australian and British accents in their Chicago speech."

Michael Sommers, NewJerseyNewsRoom.com: "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."

Claire Stenhouse, UK Daily Telegraph: "The duo gave a tight, nuanced performance, complete with convincing Chicago accents. Jackman, who won a Tony Award for his 2004 Broadway debut in The Boy From Oz, was enthralling as the big hearted but corrupt cop.
By turns humorous, dark and tense, the actors handled Keith Huff's evenly paced drama, directed by John Crowley, with a skill and subtlety which rarely gets chance to shine in Hollywood."

More reviews to come in the AM...