The Picture of Dorian Gray – 28 March 2025

The Picture of Dorian Gray starring Sarah Snook as all 26 roles appearing in this production makes brilliant use of a combination of live and prerecorded video to recount Oscar Wilde’s widely lauded tale of ego and vanity, exploring what it means to live a consequence free life. The essential premise of the story is that of a man who wishes a beautiful portrait painted of him to age and grow old instead of his physical visage, which will remain forever young. As Dorian Gray notices the portrait beginning to age, it seems that sinful acts and wronging people create the ugliness in his face more than the actual passage of time. Gray is able to scrutinize the picture to see what each wrong deed would have made his body and soul look like if not for this hellish bargain, and despite being horrified by who he truly is, he continues to sin in the eyes of society and only has one moment of serious doubt towards the end of the performance; shortly after, he stabs the painting which kills his physical form and returns the painting to its original state, suggesting that his immortal soul has been forgiven.

The story is a familiar one, but the mechanics of this Broadway production at The Music Box are truly stunning. Snook’s character transformations include observed quick changes, interactions with previously recorded video versions of herself, her shifting between characters with moving video panels cutting between angles to make it clear who is speaking, a combination of video and physical sets for her to interact with, musical interludes, puppetry, clever comedic use of cell phone filters, dramatic lighting changes, interactions with camera operators handing her props, the use of lighted cigarettes to create fog across a camera screen, and many other creative storytelling devices that added something new to look at in each successive scene to keep the audience engaged. What didn’t change is the titular character caring more about what other people thought of him than he cared about the people themselves. In a moment that this production could have emphasized more for clarity, Dorian attempts to kill the painting by stabbing the painter. From then on, the story becomes a mad dash to the finish line with increasingly less nuance.

As someone very familiar with this novel, I feel that this production fell short in how much time was spent in each part of the story. Too much time was spent introducing characters whose roles were largely cut out of the story. As entertaining as the garden scene with all of the upper class guests was, it took time from the audience understanding Dorian Gray’s fall from grace. Too much of the show was spent establishing what the picture was and not enough exploring the consequences of its existence and how Gray went from this picture perfect golden boy to this hideous, unfeeling murderer. It would have been more meaningful to spend more time on Gray’s dark side so that the stabbing of Basil and need to eliminate James Vane would have come through more clearly. Another interesting dimension is what happens when Gray’s friends have aged and he hasn’t. They mentioned it several times, but didn’t delve into the feelings it evoked. Ultimately, I think this staged adaptation leaned on actions to make the story work as a solo show, when the deeper thematic feelings are in the emotions of the characters and that some of the nuance was missed in the business of making this production a spectacle.

That being said, the spectacle is definitely worth seeing. Oscar Wilde’s ideas are painted larger than life with every ounce of creativity in this hybrid theatre/film art form in truly magnificent ways. Snook herself is called upon to do many things at once and be mindful of many things at once that she can’t actually see. Her performance is unique, phenomenal, and masterful in that she is able to stay focused on what marks to hit next, exactly how far she can lean and which parts of the story she is telling live verses hearing herself tell. Her timing must be impeccable to make this production work—and it’s absolutely flawless. These kinds of demands have never been placed on a performer and she is uniquely up for the challenge; most remarkably, she never sacrifices her acting ability, the clarity of diverse characters, or her commitment to a two hour performance that requires an unprecedented level of hyper awareness.

I am truly in awe of Sarah Snook’s performance in The Picture of Dorian Gray on Broadway, as well as the intensely beautiful and intricately thought out video design (David Bergman), aesthetically gorgeous scenic and costume design (Marg Horwell), delightfully supportive music composition and sound design (Clemence Williams), and mood shifting light design (Nick Schlieper). The contributions of dramaturg and creative associate Eryn Jean Norvill and production dramaturg Paige Rattray were apparent throughout and nailed the little details that grounded this production in its Oscar Wilde roots. Most of all, The Picture of Dorian Gray created a hybridized art form which blurred the lines between storytelling modalities traditionally thought of as separate—theatre, film, and visual art. This stunning production is a must see for that almighty triple threat alone.

I attended this performance on a press pass from The Press Room.