I know, I know … today’s not Thursday, it’s Saturday. Work life happened, and I really want to post at least short reviews of the other two 2026 Tony Award nominees I saw before the Tony Awards happen, which is tomorrow (Sunday, June 7) as of when I’m writing this. One closed back in January, and the other is closing soon after the Tony broadcast.
OEDIPUS
I was supposed to see Oedipus and Marjorie Prime during Christmas week but got sick. Thankfully, I was able to squeeze a performance of Oedipus in before the run ended in January (sadly, I did not make it to Marjorie Prime before it closed). I went in expecting the original Sophocles, or something close to it, in modern dress as is so often done with Shakespeare. That’s not what creator and director Robert Icke gave us. This is a modern language, modern dress, retelling of the original. It takes place on Election Night in Thebes, in the last hour and a half before the race’s results are to be announced. The front-runner is Oedipus, an immigrant to Thebes and second husband to Jocasta. Jocasta was married to the former ruler of Thebes, who died twenty years earlier under what some consider questionable circumstances. Over the course of a strict hour-and-a-half (with no intermission), counted down by a large LED clock on the stage, Oedipus and Jocasta, along with their family and staff, uncover secrets that end in tragedy. (SPOILERS: If you didn’t study Greek myths in school, suffice to say: the prophecy at Oedipus’ birth that he would kill his father and have sex with his mother came spectacularly and gruesomely true, to everyone’s horror.)
Mark Strong and Leslie Manville led the company as Oedipus and Jocasta, and they fully deserve their Tony nominations, Manville in particular. Strong was a commanding Oedipus, even in his confusion and despair. Manville’s Jocasta, the true power of the family and the cause of her younger husband’s political rise, in comparison, deteriorates in minutes before our eyes. I could not take my eyes from her during the final 20 minutes of the play. As with Hadestown, I knew what was coming and still kept hoping this time the story would turn out differently.
I have to say that I thought Anne Reid, as Oedipus’ adoptive mother Merope, would score a Featured Actress nomination. Reid walked that fine line of managing grief, anger, and despondency so incredibly well.
This was the only 2026 Tony-nominated play I managed to see this season. I do hope Strong and Manville win in their categories.
CHESS
The other Tony-nominated show I saw was CHESS. Now anyone who knows me knows I’ve loved this show since the concept album came out (and will therefore probably be surprised that this is the first time I’ve seen it performed live). I went in with hopes, rather than expectations. The show has a rough history, and I knew the book had been rewritten and song order rearranged with some songs dropped and others added. I also saw it the during the period Lea Michele was out.
Let me just say: I know the category is full of powerhouses this year, but I will be severely disappointed if Nicholas Christopher does not win Best Performance By an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical. I’d previously seen him as Sweeney in Sweeney Todd (during the period after Josh Groban left and before Aaron Tveit took over) and he was phenomenal, so I went out of my way to make sure he’d be in CHESS the night I saw it. He did not disappoint. You’ve seen the viral clip of the note he holds at the end of “Endgame.” It’s even more powerful in person. If you need one reason to see CHESS before it closes … that note should be enough. (Full admission: Anatoly’s songs are my favorites in the show, the ones I would belt (not necessarily well, mind you) along with the concept album vinyl in my living room. So yes, Nicholas Christopher made me cry. Multiple times.) Aaron Tveit’s Freddie is appropriately slimy and smarmy; the revised book tries to give him a bit more depth and Tveit tries his best, but there’s not really a lot that can be done to make Freddie at all likeable or sympathetic. I am also happy that Bryce Pinkham got a Featured Actor nomination as the Narrator/Arbiter. His comedic talent injected the otherwise dark show with much needed lighter moments. With Lea out, I saw Katerina Papacostas as Florence and she was terrific. I hope she gets snapped up by a new show after CHESS closes and has a chance to create a role. She’s further proof that being an understudy or standby does not mean the performer is any less talented than the full-time cast.
It only occurs to me as I’m rereading the above reviews that what these shows both have in common is how appropriate they are for our current political climate. Oedipus comments on the nature of celebrity and celebrity-in-politics, how that spotlight can both blind the populace and reveal every shadow of a politician at the same time. CHESS’s grounding in the Cold War machinations of the 1980s shines a light on how those same machinations are still happening right now.
I’ve always loved live theater, and in the past couple of years I’ve been making a stronger effort to see more of it. Theater Thursday is an occasional series where I talk about live theater, both shows I’ve seen recently and shows I’ve loved in the past.