Tom Sturridge and Brian d’Arcy James Join Michelle Williams in ANNA CHRISTIE
Sturridge replaces Mike Faist, who withdrew from the production.
By: Nicole Rosky Aug. 26, 2025
St. Ann’s Warehouse has just announced that Tony nominees Tom Sturridge and Brian d’Arcy James have joined the cast of St. Ann’s new production of Eugene O’Neill’s “Anna Christie,” directed by Thomas Kail. Sturridge and d’Arcy James team with Emmy Award winner and five-time Oscar nominee Michelle Williams as she takes on one of the boldest roles in the American canon. Performances take place November 25, 2025 - February 1, 2026.
Tom Sturridge (Broadway: Sea Wall/A Life, Orphans, 1984; West End: American Buffalo) has been praised for his “devastating performance” in Sea Wall / A Life on Broadway and at The Public Theater, in which he was “so comfortably natural that he might convince you of anything” (The New York Times). In “Anna Christie,” he plays the shipwrecked Mat Burke, who becomes Anna’s lover. Sturridge replaces Mike Faist, who withdrew from the production.
Brian d’Arcy James (Broadway: Days of Wine and Roses, Hamilton, The Ferryman, Time Stands Still) has garnered immense acclaim over the course of his three-decade career in film, television, and theater. He was most recently celebrated for his “beautifully understated…immensely moving” (The New York Times) performance Off Broadway as Father in Signature Theatre’s revival of Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice. In “Anna Christie,” he takes on another powerful, complicated portrait of a father/daughter reunion: as Anna’s heretofore absent parent, coal barge captain Chris Christopherson.
St. Ann’s striking location on the Brooklyn Bridge waterfront is the chosen setting for Kail’s vision for Anna’s impassioned journey. The production is brought to life by an all-star design team including Olivier Award winner Steven Hoggett (St. Ann’s: Black Watch, Let the Right One In; Broadway: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), who, as the production’s movement and fight choreographer, reteams with Kail following their celebrated Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd; scenic designers Christine Jones (Broadway: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Spring Awakening), a Tony winner who reunites with St. Ann’s following 2015’s Let the Right One In, and AMP co-founder Brett J. Banakis; Academy Award and two-time Tony Award-winning Costume Designer Paul Tazewell (Hamilton, Death Becomes Her, Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story); lighting designer Natasha Katz, who won one of her eight Tonys for the Broadway revival of O’Neill’s Long Day's Journey into Night and another for her work with Kail on his Sweeney Todd revival; and Emmy-winning, three-time Academy Award-nominated composer Nicholas Britell (Succession, Andor, Moonlight), whose original music for “Anna Christie” is his first ever theatrical score.
O’Neill’s play received the Pulitzer Prize in 1922 and was made into a film in 1930 with Greta Garbo in the title role. Liv Ullman played Anna Christie in the play’s 1977 Broadway revival, and Natasha Richardson and Liam Neeson heated up the stage in a 1993 production, which won a Tony for Best Revival.
Now, one of the most esteemed actresses of our time inhabits the titanic role. “No actor working today has evoked the tragedy and pathos of the leading lady—and brought those qualities to her art—as deeply as Williams,” wrote T Magazine in 2022. The production marks a reunion between Williams (Broadway: Cabaret; TV: Dying for Sex, Fosse/Verdon; Film: The Fablemans, Manchester by the Sea, Blue Valentine, Brokeback Mountain) and Kail (Broadway: Hamilton, Sweeney Todd; upcoming: Disney’s live-action Moana) who last collaborated on FX’s acclaimed Fosse/Verdon.
“Anna Christie” is one of three St. Ann’s productions centering powerhouse performances this Fall 2025 season: Julia McDermott anchors the blistering dark comedy Weather Girl by Brian Watkins (September 16-October 12), and Justin Vivian Bond ignites the legacy of Marianne Faithfull in Flaming September (September 24-28) presented by St. Ann’s at its original home, the Church of St. Ann & the Holy Trinity in Brooklyn Heights.
St. Ann’s Warehouse will announce additional “Anna Christie” casting soon.
About Tom Sturridge (Mat Burke)
Tom Sturridge is an acclaimed British actor known for his nuanced performances on stage and screen.
Sturridge can currently be seen leading the second season of Netflix’s The Sandman, following a hugely successful first season that debuted at #1 worldwide and earned both critical and commercial acclaim. Based on the bestselling comic book series, the story follows Dream (Tom), a cosmic being navigating worlds both human and divine.
Sturridge has also reteamed with Olivier Assayas on his political thriller The Wizard of the Kremlin, alongside Paul Dano, Alicia Vikander, Jude Law, and Zach Galifianakis. The film is based on the bestselling novel of the same name, and will premiere in main competition at this year’s 82nd Venice Film Festival.
Last year Sturridge led the independent Widow Cliquot, opposite Haley Bennett, which debuted to critical acclaim at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Prior to that, he starred in HBO’s Irma Vep, written and directed by Olivier Assayas, opposite Alicia Vikander. The limited series currently holds a rating of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Sturridge is celebrated for his work on stage. In 2019, he led a sold-out run of Sea Wall / A Life opposite Jake Gyllenhaal – first on Broadway, then at The Public Theater – which received brilliant reviews and earned Sturridge a Tony nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play in 2020. Prior to that, he captivated audiences in a Broadway production of 1984, George Orwell’s haunting dystopian classic, directed by Robert Icke, produced by Scott Rudin and Sonia Friedman. On London’s West End, Sturridge’s searing portrayal in American Buffalo earned him an Olivier Award nomination, adding to his earlier Tony nomination for his riveting performance in Orphans on Broadway.
Additional film and television credits include: Netflix’s Velvet Buzzsaw alongside Jake Gyllenhaal and Toni Collette and directed by Dan Gilroy, Walter Salles’ On the Road opposite Kristen Stewart, Thomas Vinterberg's Far from the Madding Crowd opposite Carey Mulligan, Song to Song directed by Terrance Malick, Mary Shelley opposite Elle Fanning, Journey’s End with Paul Bettany, Remainder directed by Omar Fast, The BBC’s award-winning series The Hollow Crown opposite Benedict Cumberbatch, and Pirate Radio opposite Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
About Brian d’Arcy James (Chris Christopherson)
Brian d’Arcy James has received five Tony Award nominations (Days of Wine and Roses, Into the Woods, Shrek: The Musical, Something Rotten, Sweet Smell of Success), two Drama Desk Awards (Days of Wine and Roses and Shrek: The Musical), an Obie Award (The Good Thief), a 2023 Grammy Award (Into the Woods), an 2023 Independent Spirit Award Nomination (Best Supporting Performance: The Cathedral), as well as a SAG Award, Critics Choice Award, Independent Spirit’s Robert Altman Award, and a Gotham Award for Best Ensemble, alongside Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, and Rachel McAdams, for starring in the Academy Award winning film Spotlight.
Brian will star in James Wan’s upcoming The Copenhagen Test opposite Simu Liu for Peacock.
Film credits include: 2025 film Millers In Marriage from director Ed Burns, the 2023 Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award winning film The Cathedral directed by Ricky D’Ambrose, the 2022 Oscar nominated film West Side Story directed by Steven Spielberg, Pain Hustlers opposite Emily Blunt for Netflix directed by David Yates, She Came To Me opposite Anne Hathaway and Marisa Tomei, written and directed by Rebecca Miller, Let Me Go directed by Destry Spielberg, The Kitchen opposite Melissa McCarthy, First Man directed by Damien Chazelle opposite Ryan Gosling, the Simon Kinberg-directed X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Aaron Sorkin’s Molly’s Game opposite Jessica Chastain, the Peter Landesman directed Mark Felt: The Man Who Took Down The White House opposite Liam Neeson, Rebel and The Rye directed by Danny Strong, Devil’s Peak directed by Ben Young with Billy Bob Thornton, and Theresa Rebeck’s Trouble starring Anjelica Huston. The Creative Coalition awarded James with their 2017 Spotlight Award (presented to him by Aaron Sorkin) on behalf of James’s work in Felt and Molly’s Game.
Television credits include: Love & Death, Dear Edward, Evil, Marvel’s Hawkeye, The Comey Rule, Devs, 13 Reasons Why, Manhunt: Unabomber, The Big C, and Smash. James Executive Produced the 2022 CBS multi-cam series How We Roll.
Other key theater credits include: the 2025 Signature Theatre's production of Spotlight Resident Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice opposite Maya Hawke, the 2022 revival of Into the Woods opposite Sara Bareilles, originating the role of King George III in the off-Broadway production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton in 2015 and reprising it on Broadway in 2017, Jez Butterworth’s The Ferryman directed by Sam Mendes, Lincoln Center Theater's Macbeth, opposite Ethan Hawke, Time Stands Still opposite Laura Linney, Martin McDonagh’s The Lieutenant of Inishmore, and many, many more.
As a concert artist, James has performed worldwide at venues that included The White House, Madison Square Garden, and Carnegie Hall. He is also an avid marathon runner who has completed the Chicago, Boston, and New York marathons.
