The Picture of Dorian Gray on Broadway
Went into the theater already a big Sarah Snook fan, wondering how this one-woman show would go. Playing all 26 characters seemed like an impossible feat to pull off well. But she did it. Her acting plus costume design made me forget that she was literally every character. Occasionally I’d remember and marvel, and then go back to watching the story play out.
Live on-stage Snook interacted with pre-recorded on-screen Snook so perfectly it was completely believable that these were different people. And at one point the camera crew that generally follows her around hands her a phone and walks off-stage, the phone’s tiny screen projected onto the huge on-stage screen. She does a whole bit taking a selfie, face-tuning it to make herself look young, and switching between young facetuned her and live “old decrepit ugly” her. I loved that modern take on Dorian’s story, and also how much could go wrong technically, but didn’t.
I walked out of the theater feeling like I witnessed a piece of art so rare and special. How does one decide to do something that audacious and then pull it off in her Broadway debut? Someone who is a true master of her craft.
