The Gin Game Revival
Two hours, with one intermission
The Gin Game - 2015 Broadway History , Info & More
John Golden Theatre (Broadway)
252 West 45th St. New York, NY
Weller Martin (James Earl Jones) and Fonsia Dorsey (Cicely Tyson) meet on the porch of their nursing home and strike up a friendship, with Weller teaching Fonsia how to play gin rummy. As they play, they share stories about the lives they led in the outside world. But when Fonsia wins every hand, Weller becomes increasingly frustrated, until their gin games and conversations become a battleground, with each player exposing the other's failures, disappointments and insecurities.
Mr. Jones and Ms. Tyson are sharing a Broadway stage for the first time since 1966, when they appeared in A Hand Is On The Gate at the Longacre Theatre. They also starred in the long-running Off-Broadway production of Jean Genet's The Blacks. They starred opposite each other in the film The River Niger and the TV movie "Heat Wave." Mr. Jones is a two-time Tony Award winner (Fences, The Great White Hope), three-time Emmy Award winner ("Heat Wave," "Gabriel's Fire," "Summer's End") and the recipient of a Grammy Award and an Honorary Academy Award. Ms. Tyson is a Tony Award-winner (The Trip to Bountiful), a three-time Emmy Award winner ("The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman," "The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All") and an Academy Award nominee (Sounder).
The Gin Game - 2015 - Broadway Cast
PREVIEW The Gin Game - 2015 - Broadway
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FEATURED REVIEWS FOR The Gin Game
'The Gin Game': Theater Review
8 / 10
Foglia leans heavily on the humor in The Gin Game, perhaps dimming some of the more emotionally affecting notes and making the shift into sobering home truths and self-recriminations somewhat abrupt...What keeps the slender piece engaging is the delicate dance between Jones and Tyson, as she gets repeatedly scared off by his bluster and then is coaxed back, following an apology, for a couple more hands of gin. Despite being a little hunched with age, Weller remains a fearsome bear of a man in Jones' well-honed characterization, using his thunderous basso voice to stifle any uncomfortable small talk or implied criticism...Tyson is tiny and birdlike, affecting a butter-wouldn't-melt innocence and a vise-like handbag grip...But this sweet, shuffling figure turns out to be quite passive-aggressive, revealing her barely disguised glee each time she humiliates Weller by piercing his masculine pride.
Review: James Earl Jones, Cicely Tyson risk it in 'Gin Game'
8 / 10
One thing you should probably not bet against at 'The Gin Game' on Broadway is the little old lady onstage who seems to have supernatural luck with cards. Another is the two-person cast, James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson...The handsome and beautifully acted revival of D.L. Coburn's Pulitzer Prize-winning play...about two lonely, alienated nursing home residents is directed by Leonard Foglia, who has put an emphasis on the play's humor. That makes for an enjoyable evening but also makes the come-out-of-nowhere ending a gut-wrencher...Jones curses up a storm, pushes for faster games and slaps the cards down on the table in hopes of winning just a single hand. Tyson plays her little old lady with a stutter-step and tentativeness to her gait, but a mind sharp and stinging. There's a girlish glee that comes over her as each new round ends with her victory. Watching them together is a sheer honor.
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The Gin Game History
Other Productions of The Gin Game
| 1977 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1997 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 2015 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Production Broadway |
The Gin Game - 2015 Broadway Awards and Nominations
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Cicely Tyson |
| 2016 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play | D.L. Coburn |
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