“Dog Day Afternoon” Begins Previews – front mezz junkies, Theater News

Frontmezzjunkies reports: The legendary 1975 film arrives on stage in a new play by Stephen Adly Guirgis

by Ross

Previews begin tonight on Broadway for Dog Day Afternoonat the August Wilson Theatre, bringing to the stage a new adaptation of one of the most gripping true-crime stories ever captured on film. The production also marks the Broadway debuts of two formidable actors: Jon Bernthal (“The Walking Dead“), taking on the explosive role of Sonny Amato opposite Ebon Moss-Bachrach (“The Bear“) as Sal DeSilva. As written by Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Adly Guirgis (Halfway Bitches…) and directed by two-time Olivier Award winner Rupert Goold (Broadway’s Patriots), the production dives headfirst into the tension and heat of that volatile 1970s summer in a strictly limited engagement running through June 28.

It’s hard not to admire the electrifying 1975 film “Dog Day Afternoon,” directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Al Pacino and John Cazale. And the arrival of a stage version carries a certain irresistible intrigue. The film itself was based on the astonishing real-life 1972 Brooklyn bank robbery led by John Wojtowicz and Salvatore Naturile, first chronicled in the Life magazine article “The Boys in the Bank” by P. F. Kluge and Thomas Moore. Lumet’s gritty cinematic retelling became an instant classic, earning multiple Academy Award nominations and winning Best Original Screenplay for Frank Pierson before eventually being preserved in the National Film Registry for its cultural significance.

Translating that volatile, sweltering summer day into live theatre feels like an irresistible theatrical challenge. With Guirgis’s streetwise, muscular writing and Goold’s sharp eye for staging political and psychological tension, the ingredients are certainly all there for something electrifying. Watching this legendary story unfold not on a movie screen but on a Broadway stage, moment by moment and breath by breath, makes Dog Day Afternoon one of the most intriguing adaptations of the season, and one I’m eager to experience live this spring.