The Iceman Cometh (Broadway)
Closed 3h 50m
The Iceman Cometh (Broadway)
76

The Iceman Cometh (Broadway) NYC Reviews and Tickets

76%
(253 Ratings)
Positive
78%
Mixed
16%
Negative
6%
Members say
Great acting, Slow, Absorbing, Intense, Dated

About the Show

Tony and two-time Academy Award winner Denzel Washington returns to Broadway in a revival of Eugene O’Neill’s classic portrait of hope and disillusionment.

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Show-Score Member Reviews (253)

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51 Reviews | 6 Followers
95
Absorbing, Great acting, Intelligent, Intense

See it if You enjoy strong dialogue, are a Denzel Washington fan, like male driven dramas.

Don't see it if You are looking for something light and fluffy, want to see strong female leads, not a fan of Eugene Oneill's work

191 Reviews | 396 Followers
93
Absorbing, Exquisite, Great acting, Must see, Profound

See it if Excellent production of a classic O'Neill play. Gloriously directed & designed, and acted by a great ensemble lead by Mr. Washington.

Don't see it if You don't like plays by Eugene O'Neill.

563 Reviews | 193 Followers
92
Great acting, Great writing, Masterful, Riveting, Epic

See it if You want to see a classic play performed by an amazing array of well-trained stage actors.

Don't see it if You want a contemporary play. You're daunted by the play's run time. Read more

324 Reviews | 70 Followers
92
Absorbing, Ambitious, Entertaining, Epic, Profound

See it if Talented supporting cast surrounds the most compelling Hickey in the past 30 years in Washington

Don't see it if Uncomfortable Jacobs Theatre will make you want to head for exit before 3 hour 45 minute epic is over miss out on clearest 4th act ever

135 Reviews | 35 Followers
91
Absorbing, Funny, Intelligent, Intense

See it if you want to see a great and moving play. I like it more than Long Day's Journey Into Night.

Don't see it if the usual characteristics of O'Neill's play-length (4 hours), repetitiveness, windiness, speeches in dialect-you deem to be insurmountable. Read more

251 Reviews | 116 Followers
90
Great acting, Intense, Profound, Intelligent, Resonant

See it if Long classic play races by through fine acting of Denzel Washington, Colm Meaney, Bill Irwin, Danny McCarthy, Clark Middleton, Neal Huff etc

Don't see it if You hate long plays, don't want to be depressed, or can't take Eugene O'Neill. But this was a very very fine production indeed.

87 Reviews | 31 Followers
90
Absorbing, Masterful, Thought-provoking, Great acting, Ambitious

See it if You love O'Neill and want to see Denzel.

Don't see it if You do not like long plays! It is definitely a commitment, but it is well worth it, especially if you're a theater buff.

52 Reviews | 9 Followers
90
Absorbing, Great acting, Intense, Thought-provoking, Heavy

See it if you love classic beautifully written pieces about life. Got to love 4 hours of O'Neill!

Don't see it if you want a happy upbeat mindless entertaining show.

Critic Reviews (43)

The New York Times
April 26th, 2018

"Who’s going to feel like nodding off, or slump into terminal angst, when Mr. Wolfe has filled the stage with such delectably seasoned hams...Watching this latest incarnation, I laughed more often than I teared up. But this 'Iceman' acquires its own poignant lyricism...With its heightened performances and tone-poem visuals, this production also clearly elicits the musical nature of 'Iceman.'"
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Time Out New York
April 26th, 2018

"The language is stiff with dated slang; key terms like 'pipe dream' recur literally dozens of times. Yet the cumulative effect of this handsomely decrepit production is bracing. Director George C. Wolfe keeps things moving at a quick clip; not all of the bigger character choices pay off—and some of the actors are hard to hear or understand—but there are performances to savor...It is Washington’s show, and he seizes it with both hands in Hickey’s climactic monologue."
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New York Magazine / Vulture
April 26th, 2018

"The kind of production that puts prospective audience members off 'classics' for good...You’d be within your rights to run screaming from the theater by the first of the show’s two intermissions. If, however, you decided to stick around for the whole moribund, infuriating ride, you might find yourself wondering why this play is considered a classic at all...Wolfe, despite his long and lauded directorial career, doesn’t seem to have something specific to say about the play."
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The Wall Street Journal
April 26th, 2018

"Washington's performance, not at all surprisingly, lacks depth and inner tension: You can feel the momentum of the play go slack every time he enters. In all other aspects, though, this 'Iceman' is a production of high distinction...He’s taken a cast full of familiar faces and welded them into a true ensemble...He’s also cut 'Iceman' by roughly an hour, and the play is the better for having been pruned so rigorously."
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Deadline
April 26th, 2018

"Though certainly built around mega-star Washington, this 'Iceman' is so well-cast and performed that Washington’s late, happy-dance entrance almost seems a worry. Is something delicate about to be knocked off balance? And in some ways, it is. Washington is at his best here when he’s mixing with the rabble...An ensemble as outstanding as it is large."
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New York Daily News
April 26th, 2018

"Does marquee attraction Denzel Washington delivereth the goods? You bet — and then some...Washington has shiny star quality and 100-proof charisma that fits like a glove for Hickey. But the performance goes beyond mere surface gloss...Otherwise, Wolfe’s staging is a mixed bag. Part of that is because the play is so long, talky and repetitive...But there are also bright spots in the new production."
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Variety
April 26th, 2018

"Helmer George C. Wolfe has trimmed the play to a reasonable length without losing the nuances in the various life histories of the boys in the barroom. But this is still a long play with a lot of moving parts. The first act, in which all the characters are introduced and roughly defined, is the most attenuated. Everyone lightens up – a bit too much, actually – in the second act, which shoots for comedy. But everything comes together in the third act, which spells Drama with a capital D."
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The Hollywood Reporter
April 26th, 2018

"George C. Wolfe's revival feels on some levels like it's still cohering, the underlying despair remaining muted for too much of the three-hour-45-minute running time. But it comes together in a powerful final act driven by the searing confessional monologue of Denzel Washington's Hickey...Wolfe has assembled a talented ensemble, almost all digging deep into their characters...In those closing scenes, the play finally achieves its full tragic grandeur."
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