Reviews: Read What Critics Think of Straight Line Crazy, Starring Ralph Fiennes, at Off-Broadway's The Shed

The Verdict

Reviews: Read What Critics Think of Straight Line Crazy, Starring Ralph Fiennes, at Off-Broadway’s The Shed

A transfer from London, the production examines the legacy of Robert Moses, the controversial “builder” of modern New York City.

Ralph Fiennes in Straight Line Crazy at The Shed
Kate Glicksberg

Reviews are in for David Hare’s Straight Line Crazy, starring Tony winner Ralph Fiennes (Hamlet), at The Shed’s Griffin Theater. The show began previews Off-Broadway October 18 ahead of its October 26 opening night. Performances are set to run through December 18.

Fiennes reprises his role as Robert Moses, having starred in the show’s world premiere at London’s The Bridge earlier this year, with Tony winner Nicholas Hytner (The History Boys, Carousel) and Jamie Armitage at the helm. Straight Line Crazy delves into the questionable legacy of Moses and his enduring impact on New York through an imagined retelling of two decisive moments in his controversial career: his rise to power in the late 1920s and the public outcry against the corrosive effects of that power in the mid-1950s.

Read the reviews here.

Audacy (David Caplan)

City Journal (Nicole Gelinas)

New York Stage Review (Steven Suskin)

The New York Sun (Elysa Gardner)*

New York Theater (Jonathan Mandell)

New York Theatre Guide (Gillian Russo)

The New York Times (Jesse Green)*

Theatermania (Zachary Stewart)

Theater Pizzazz (Brian Scott Lipton)

Vulture (Jackson McHenry)

The Wrap (Robert Hofler)

*This review requires creating a free account or a paid subscription.

Playbill will continue to update this list as reviews come in.

Fiennes is joined on stage by Aisha Bailey as Mariah Heller, David Bromley as Stamford Fergus, Al Coppola as Sandy McQuade, Andrew Lewis as Lewis Mason, Alana Maria as Shirley Hayes, Guy Paul as Henry Vanderbilt, Krysten Peck as Carol Amis, Judith Roddy as Finnuala Connell, Helen Schlesinger as Jane Jacobs, Adam Silver as Ariel Porter, Mary Stillwaggon Stewart as Nicole Savage, and Danny Webb as Governor Al Smith.

WATCH: CBS Sunday Morning Goes Behind the History of Straight Line Crazy

The production also has set and costume design by Bob Crowley, lighting design by Jessica Hung Han Yun, sound design by George Dennis, music composition by George Fenton, associate design by Jaimie Todd, and casting by Robert Sterne. The production stage manager is Cynthia Cahill.

Fiennes (Faith Healer), Hytner (One Man, Two Guvnors), and Hare (Skylight) previously collaborated on Hare’s Beat the Devil, which ran at The Bridge in 2020.

Visit TheShed.org.

Go inside the production below.

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