A Delicate Balance Revival
Two hours and 55 minutes
A Delicate Balance - 2014 Broadway History , Info & More
John Golden Theatre (Broadway)
252 West 45th St. New York, NY
A DELICATE BALANCE, Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize and Tony-winning masterwork returns to Broadway with an extraordinary cast.
In A DELICATE BALANCE, Agnes (Glenn Close) and Tobias (John Lithgow), a long-married couple, must maintain their equilibrium as over the course of a weekend they welcome home their 36-year-old daughter (Martha Plimpton) after the collapse of her fourth marriage, and give shelter to their best friends (Bob Balaban and Clare Higgins), all the while tolerating Agnes' alcoholic sister Claire (Lindsay Duncan).
The Daily News calls A DELICATE BALANCE "a beautiful play- easily Albee's best and most mature, filled with humor and compassion and touched with poetry." It "proves that old-fashioned stage virtues- originality of voice, depth of feeling, richness of language- can still provide a thrill" (TIME Magazine). "If you really care about serious theatre, brilliant theatre, great acting, and great playwriting, this is the only play to see on Broadway" (New York Post).
A Delicate Balance - 2014 - Broadway Cast
PREVIEW A Delicate Balance - 2014 - Broadway
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FEATURED REVIEWS FOR A Delicate Balance
A Delicate Balance (2014)
6 / 10
MacKinnon's feisty if occasionally restless revival...makes intriguing work of Albee's portrait of WASPy retired couple Agnes and Tobias (Close and Lithgow) contemplating family and friendship in the final act of their lives...The production can feel like it's oscillating speeds, but the constant is shimmering character work, and why wouldn't you expect that from such a cast of heavy-hitters? In her first leading Broadway appearance since 1994's Sunset Boulevard, Glenn Close makes a comfy return to the stage as the self-important Agnes, whose self-pity is as dramatic as her pashminas. Close exudes the kind of veteran flair and magnetism you'd presume from such a marquee name. But although this seems to be Close's marquee, it's John Lithgow who runs away with the show. As insular dilemmas pile on for the pensive, settled Tobias, Lithgow offers a tremendous master class in the art of the slow burn, cautiously placing weight on Tobias until he hits his emotional tipping point with touching resonance. B
A Delicate Balance
8 / 10
...if you don't let in this desolating, resonant piece (via brain or heart), it might indeed seem little else than two talky hours...A stony stare at varieties of moral vacancy, the play itself is full to bursting...I never saw the 1996 Lincoln Center revival, which reportedly struck a more realistic tone. But Pam MacKinnon directs this solid revival with a keen ear for the curling, teasing rhythms of Albee's ornate lines, and the performances are top-notch, including the perfectly deadpan Balaban and a sinister Higgins as the unwelcome guests. Martha Plimpton finds sympathetic notes in the difficult, shrill role of Julia, and Close and Lithgow handle their tricky speeches with grace and nuance. If Close is a touch too frosty, she's thawed by Lithgow's warmth.
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A Delicate Balance History
Other Productions of A Delicate Balance
| 1966 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1996 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
| 2014 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
| 2022 | Off-Broadway |
Transport Group Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
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