HOLDING UP UNDER PRESSURE

A bold stage adaptation that captures much
—but not all—of the film’s tension

Jon Bernthal (“Sonny”), Danny Johnson (“Mr. Eddy”), Jessica Hecht (“Colleen”)

Adapting an iconic film like Dog Day Afternoon for the stage is a challenge. There are still many people who remember Al Pacino yelling “Attica!” to the cheering crowd and his intense phone conversation with his wife. But playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis and director Rupert Goold have bravely ventured where others might fear to tread—and in many ways, they have succeeded.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach (“Sal”), , Jon Bernthal (“Sonny”)

The play, like the movie, is loosely based on a robbery that took place in 1972 in Brooklyn on a hot August afternoon, when John Wojtowicz, a Vietnam veteran, and his two accomplices made an inept attempt at robbing a Chase bank. The 14-hour standoff, the drive to JFK, and the eventual shootout at the airport became media legend.

Wilemina Olivia-Garcia (“Lorna”), Andrea Syglowski (“Alison”), Jon Bernthal (“Sonny”), Elizabeth Canavan (“Roxxanna/Gloria”), Paola Lázaro (“Guadalupe”), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (“Sal”), Michael Kostroff (“Butterman”)

In the Broadway adaptation, Jon Bernthal, as novice criminal Sonny, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, as the veteran outlaw Sal, present a forceful and sometimes comic study in contrasting psychologies, with Sal trigger-happy and Sonny trying to appease him with as little bloodshed as possible.

Jon Bernthal (“Sonny”)

The ensemble acting of the bank tellers, led by Colleen (the inimitable Jessica Hecht), is both funny and poignant. Each character is vulnerable in his or her unique way. Colleen, who has spent much of her life as a caregiver, is painfully aware that she has ended up with very little. Alison (Andrea Syglowski) and Lorna (Wilhelmina Olivia-Garcia) lead lives of quiet desperation. Bank manager Nelson Butterman (Michael Kostroff) clings to his dignity. Roxxanna (Elizabeth Canavan) is the vamp disliked by everyone.

Esteban Andres Cruz (“Leon”)

The phone conversation between Sonny and Leon (Esteban Andres Cruz), his transgender lover, is particularly poignant, underlining the plight of people who are emotionally unstable and considered outcasts by society. Cruz is both comic and touching, and Bernthal switches easily from a kind-hearted if misguided fool to a lover who aches for his partner.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach (“Sal”)

David Korins’ rotating set allows the action to shift easily from inside the bank to the street, where Detective Fucco (John Ortiz) and FBI agent Sheldon (Spencer Garrett) clash.

John Ortiz (“Detective Fucco”)

Guirgis and Goold have cleverly included the audience in the famous “Attica” scene to recapture the spirit of rebellion of the early seventies, when Richard Nixon was in the White House trying to stay in office and Abe Beame was in Gracie Mansion trying to rescue New York City from bankruptcy, and nothing seemed to be going well.

Jessica Hecht (“Colleen”)

Some people, however, may take exception to the mix of comedy and drama, which admittedly takes away from the suspense of a true thriller. And somewhere close to the beginning of the play, the idea implied by the title—that this is an extremely hot day, when everyone is on edge and tempers flare—is lost.

Jon Bernthal (“Sonny”), Jessica Hecht (“Colleen”)

However, those who look back at the original film and demand the Broadway version create the same atmosphere and portray the same characters should also recognize that times have changed—and so have the problems that beset us. Despite antagonism on the federal level, transgender people are out in the open in most big cities, New York City doesn’t seem to be falling apart, and the mayor is a democratic socialist who advocates for police accountability.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach (“Sal”)

Perhaps we can look back on the 1970s and laugh a little.

Spencer Garrett (“Sheldon”), John Ortiz (“Detective Fucco”)

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photos by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

Dog Day Afternoon
August Wilson Theatre
245 West 52nd Street, New York
2 hours 15 minutes with one intermission
ends on July 12, 2026
for tickets, visit Dog Day Afternoon

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