Sarah Snook is Astonishing in Broadway’s ‘Dorian Gray’
'Succession's' Sarah Snook arrives at the Music Box Theater, bringing all 26 of the Oscar Wilde novel's characters along for the ride.
Obsession with eternal youth has always been a hot topic.
Theatergoers who can’t get enough of the theme are in luck, as three New York shows prominently feature the idea of enduring beauty: a Broadway stage adaptation of the 1992 comedy Death Becomes Her has two dueling divas battling it out in comic fashion after drinking a potion that halts the aging process.
Downtown, meanwhile, a Faustian deal is brokered between a devil named Mephisto and a bank president where the financier can relive his years in one night in the immersive production entitled Life and Trust.
The third production, also on the main stem, is The Picture of Dorian Gray, a remarkably inventive interpretation of Oscar Wilde’s 1891 Victorian novel. It stars Sarah Snook, best known for her role as Shiv Roy on HBO’s Succession.
After much acclaim — including an Olivier award for best actress in London’s West End — Snook arrives at the Music Box Theater, bringing all 26 of the story’s characters along.
The most incredible bit? All are portrayed by Snook in this whimsical retelling that relies heavily on large, rectangular screens and pre-recorded segments that find her playing opposite herself.
The result is nothing short of brilliant, a word whose meaning is often diluted by overuse and underwhelm, but here it truly defines both the performance and production.
The tale begins as painter Basil Hallwood prepares to draw his muse, the beautiful Dorian Gray, a young aristocrat who is quickly seduced by the influence of Lord Henry Wotten, a snooty socialite who causes Gray to sell his soul for the decadence of youth. Consequently, the portrait ages but Gray does not.
Snook’s characterizations, both male and female, are so distinctive and unique that one might question if it is, indeed, the same actor. Yet her malleable face and physicalities prove that she is an actor of endless range.
As great as she is, however, Snook is never alone onstage. She is constantly surrounded by a nimble crew of camera technicians who project the magic onto the screens.
Blending screens and live theater can often be a gimmicky distraction, but director and adaptor Kip Williams’s vision makes perfect sense as his staging lends commentary on our selfie-saturated selves and our collective fixation with vanity.
The Picture of Dorian Gray (★★★★★) is playing through June 29 at the Music Box Theatre, 239 West 45th St., in New York City. Tickets are $94 to $521. Visit www.doriangrayplay.com.
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