Featured Production: Othello – 6 April 2025

Stunt casting has been a part of Broadway for generations, and this 2024-2025 season is no exception. On the surface, it seems like a good idea. Invite a movie star on stage. Appeal broadens as they come with a larger fan base. You can charge more (though you do have to pay them more). Theatre is brought to a wider audience. Everybody wins. But does everybody win? This op-ed is going to examine the differences in skill sets required of movie stars and theatre stars in search of an answer to whether the use of movie stars enhances or inhibits a production.

In order to assess who belongs where, I’d like to examine how the sausage is made. It’s not all just acting— there are different skill sets involved. When a movie is shot, it is seldom shot in order. Each day (or part of a day), a different scene is shot. Actors have (sometimes) had a script for the whole production, but they focus in on one scene. There are many takes. People on the dictatorial and producing team step in and ask for different versions of particular lines or moments. Sometimes the actor is interacting with objects/characters/settings that are real, other times the bulk of the details are filled in after the fact. When that particular moment is done, filming moves on to another scene that may not be the next scene chronologically. Sometimes particular scenes are returned to, other times they are not. Actors are not generally on set for scenes they are not in. When their part is done, others work their magic to create a film, and actors screen it in totality upon completion (or near completion).

Let’s examine a theatrical process. In theatre, there are rehearsals. Sometimes they are done piecemeal, like a movie, other times they are chronological. Towards the end of the creative process, the show is run from start to finish and more elements are added, some of which may be (or seem) interactive. In theatre, the cue to move scenery, lights, projections, sounds, and costumes is often taken from the actor— meaning the person who pushes the button to make the changes is looking for an agreed upon signal from the actor to make the changes happen. In practice, when a show is done, or, as we say in the industry, “frozen”, the design team and director step away— but the actor’s journey is just beginning. The actor now has to perform the full story, start to finish, as many as 8 times a week, and is expected to deliver the same performance every time— no matter how you are feeling, what’s going on in your personal life, and, most importantly, how physically exhausted you are from doing the show on an ongoing basis. If your show stays open, and you’re lucky, you may be doing it 8 times a week for years.

I think we can agree that the demands of making a movie and being in a theatrical production are very different. Let’s look at a real life example. Denzel Washington, currently playing the titular character in Othello on Broadway, is 70 years old. The run time of this production is close to 3 hours, though, worth noting, he isn’t on stage for nearly as much of it as fellow movie star Jake Gyllenhaal (44). Denzel Washington is a titan of the silver screen— especially filmed versions of theatre productions (notably the ones written by August Wilson). The depth that he brings to theatre characters on film is incredibly moving. Sad to say, I agree with the reviews of my fellow theatre critics when they say that this production is quite dull, and that Denzel Washington’s Othello is stagnant, one dimensional, and unlikable. The only time that Washington’s performance packs its usual heat is in the last five minutes, when everyone dies. Gyllenhaal, also a movie star but a lesser titan, shines in his ability to memorize lines, but other than emphasizing the word, “honest” every time he says it (clearly a direction from acclaimed theatre director Kenny Leon), it feels forced and unremarkable. 

My conclusion is that film stars aren’t used to two things: the physical exertion of being up on your feet to do a full show that often and also the artistic challenge of creating a character arc and building that character from the beginning of the story to the end as though on a new journey every time. Further, without cameras and directors in the vicinity for the process, Denzel Washington seemed lost on stage. He didn’t quite know how to stand so the audience could see him, and seemed very focused on remembering where to go and what to say— not on creating a character. Ultimately, this whole production of Othello failed to make an emotional connection, which is especially outlandish given that some tickets cost over $1000 because of how much the producers have agreed to compensate their movie stars. Also worth noting, the rest of the cast delivers an incredible standard Broadway level performance, which contributes to the show feeling uneven and only makes this mess worse. Next to the staleness of the film stars, the rest of the cast looks like they’re over acting. Jake Gyllenhaal, who I’ve never thought of as an A list move star, does create a better Iago than Denzel Washington does Othello, but I think that is best summed up by music master Billy Joel as, “when I wore a younger man’s clothes.” He’s not a better actor, just in better physical shape to tell a 3 hour story from start to finish 8 times a week.

In summation, theatre is better when performed by what I will lovingly call, “theatre people.” Though there are some actors who genuinely excel at both, better discretion is needed by casting agents in order to find people who really have the proper skill set to shine on Broadway.