Jeff Daniels and Michelle Williams will return to Broadway this season to star in David Harrower's Olivier Award-winning drama BLACKBIRD. The production, to be directed by Joe Mantello.
BLACKBIRD tells the story of Una and Ray. Fifteen years earlier they had a relationship and haven't set eyes on each other since. Now she's found him again.
Michelle Williams's girlish and haunted face is so eloquent in 'Blackbird,' you might wish you had binoculars for a closer look...Williams's Broadway debut, in 'Cabaret,' was so wispy she practically disappeared, but now she's commanding. She's believable and shattering as this damaged young woman. Daniels, ideally cast as an average guy-next-door, is her match. He convinces as a man on the edge, a shifty bird on a wire. The play itself isn't quite as successful...it takes time to settle into believable rhythms...Still, 'Blackbird' is taut, twisty and provocative. There's value in works that make your mind fly to uncomfortable places and send out cries you can't unhear.
Williams brings more of that slow-burning, nervous intensity to Una...Part of Blackbird's potency lies in Harrower's refusal to make Una either pathetic or especially likable, even as her utter devastation is revealed. Ray, similarly, is no two-dimensional monster; though he seeks to deny his demons, he has plainly done some battle with them...Daniels' performance, which was superb nine years ago, is better here -- at once more vital and more aching in its weariness, and still beautifully shaded, so that we see Ray's capacity to deceive himself and others. As his frustration and anger tip over into something more dangerous and sad, it becomes almost painful to watch the actor, but impossible to look away.
| 2007 | Off-Broadway |
Original Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
| 2016 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
| 2025 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Jeff Daniels |
| 2016 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Michelle Williams |
| 2016 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play | David Harrower |
| 2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Play | Michelle Williams |
| 2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Play (Broadway or off-Broadway) | Blackbird |
| 2016 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play | Jeff Daniels |
| 2016 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play | Michelle Williams |
| 2016 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Blackbird |
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