A Delicate Balance Revival
Run Time:
Two hours and 55 minutes
Closing: February 22, 2015Two 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': Theater Review
8 / 10
What impresses arguably even more than the performances, however, is the structural brilliance of Albee's writing...Close's Agnes is all glacial poise, with articulate language to match. She rarely raises her voice above a genteel coo, even when speculating almost wistfully about the prospect of a retreat into madness...Despite his nominal position as patriarch, Tobias is a weaker specimen than either his wife or sister-in-law, and the key choices of his adult life have been about insulating himself from the truth. His tumble down the treacherous well of self-knowledge makes him the most affecting character, and Lithgow's performance is tremendous as Tobias releases years of pent-up anguish...There are piercing moments of pathos in all the performances...The director's blocking is impeccable, firmly delineating both the reaffirmations of power and the challenges to it...Both harsh and heartwrenching, this is a needling play that's of its time and yet still surging with post-modern vitality. Its dialogue and characters border on arch but are ineffably human.
Stars juggle stormy emotions in 'Delicate Balance'
9 / 10
There are few things more terrifying than a calm Glenn Close...Agnes, who sees it as her task to maintain order, never entirely loses her cool. But in Close's revelatory performance, she evolves from a woman who seems almost preternaturally composed -- even as she contemplates going mad, in her first lines -- to a more intimidating and sadder creature striving desperately for 'maintenance,' as she puts it...MacKinnon certainly doesn't shy away from Balance's absurdist leanings...Tobias and Agnes and their decades of baggage are central throughout, of course, and MacKinnon and her actors make it abundantly clear that this marriage is not a loveless one. The tenderness and regret in Lithgow's expression as Tobias looks at his wife, and the barely repressed agony Close brings to some lines, convey something greater than tolerance or co-dependence. These fine actors find the warmth in Albee's stinging message. It's a pleasure to see them in roles that accommodate both their intensity and their flair for nuance.
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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