David Adjmi’s Stereophonic zooms in on a music studio in the mid-1970s, where an up-and-coming rock band recording a new album finds itself suddenly on the cusp of superstardom. Will the ensuing pressures spark their breakup — or their breakthrough? Featuring original music by Arcade Fire’s Will Butler, this intimate, electric play mines the agony and the ecstasy of creation.
This cast can pull off Adjmi’s knotty dialogue scenes, and they’re all remarkable musicians, able to jam in perfect synchronization and (as the plot often demands) total discord. Brill, so nervy and and raw as Astrov in Uncle Vanya this summer, is almost frayed to pieces as Reg, able to contort his body into postures that range from unsettling to pathetically funny. Across from him, Canfield makes Holly that much more careful and precise—you saw that same quality in her assistant on Succession, and also in the behind-the-eyes mysteries of Fefu and Her Friends. Stack draws on an element of Monty Python-ish good humor (Simon is, unsurprisingly, a big fan of their comedy) but is able to downshift into brawler mode at any moment. Pecinka and Pidgeon, together, get the lived-in savagery of a long relationship, allowing Peter and Diana to be as sweet as they are cruel to each other.
Without exception the cast is appealing and utterly cohesive, directed by Daniel Aukin with his usual preternatural gift for tonal control. Like his jukebox heroes, Adjmi has worked on this play for a long time (almost a decade), and his devotion and insane attention to detail has yielded a dense and novelistic weave with the uncanny heft of observed life. I’ll be honest: I don’t remember every scene of this long, luxurious fly-on-the-wall beauty.
| 2023 | Off-Broadway |
Playwrights Horizons Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
| 2024 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
| 2025 | West End |
West End |
| 2025 | US Tour |
US Tour |
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | The Lortels | Outstanding Costume Design | Enver Chakartash |
| 2024 | The Lortels | Outstanding Director | Daniel Aukin |
| 2024 | The Lortels | Outstanding Featured Performer in a Play | Eli Gelb |
| 2024 | The Lortels | Outstanding Lighting Design | Jiyoun Chang |
| 2024 | The Lortels | Outstanding Play | David Adjmi |
| 2024 | The Lortels | Outstanding Scenic Design | David Zinn |
| 2024 | The Lortels | Outstanding Sound Design | Ryan Rumery |
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