Aaron Sorkin’s A Few Good Men is back on Broadway for the first time since its 1989 premiere. The Lincoln Center Theater revival, directed by Tony winner Michael Arden, opened October 29 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, with Tom Blyth as Lt. Daniel Kaffee, Bradley Whitford as Col. Nathan R. Jessep and Krysta Rodriguez as Lt. Commander JoAnne Galloway. The production is scheduled to run through January 10, 2027.
The reviews are mixed. Several critics admire the staging and the company, while others question how well the play holds up next to the 1992 film starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore.
The Story and the Company
The courtroom drama follows a young Navy lawyer assigned to defend two Marines charged with murder after the death of a fellow Marine at Guantanamo Bay, a case that leads him toward a cover-up reaching up the chain of command. The film made Jessep’s line “You can’t handle the truth!” one of the most quoted in movie history.
The cast also includes Stephanie Berry as Judge Randolph, Nick Blaemire as Lt. Sam Weinberg, Michael Oberholtzer as Capt. Jack Ross, Thom Sesma as Capt. Matthew Markinson, Billy Eugene Jones as Capt. Isaac Whitaker, John Zdrojeski as Lt. Jonathan Kendrick, Lavel Schley as Lance Cpl. Harold W. Dawson, Collin Kelly-Sordelet as Pfc. Louden Downey, Daniel Velez as Pfc. William Santiago and Michael Braugher as Cpl. Jeffrey Howard. The design team includes Dane Laffrey (sets), Alejo Vietti (costumes), Japhy Weideman (lighting) and Joshua D. Reid (sound), with original music by Gabriel Mann.
What the Critics Liked
At TheaterMania, David Gordon called it “a perfectly honorable revival,” adding, “It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it’s nice to see where Sorkin began.”
Melissa Rose Bernardo of New York Stage Review gave the production three stars, describing the play as “a sturdy, workmanlike play built on evergreen themes” and the revival as “an engrossing courtroom drama.” She singled out John Zdrojeski as “frighteningly good.”
For Deadline, Greg Evans praised Arden’s “handsome staging,” calling it “a fresh attempt on a familiar property that almost feels vital,” though he found that the story’s “power to shock feels drained.”
Where Critics Were Divided
Adam Feldman of Time Out New York gave the revival three stars, writing that “Aaron Sorkin’s A Few Good Men has a few good moments and one that's pretty great,” and describing the production as “handsome and straight-backed.”
At Entertainment Weekly, Shelby Stivale wrote of Whitford, “While Whitford is no Nicholson, he does make a believable big bad.”
Others were less persuaded. In The Guardian, Richard Lawson wrote that “unconvincing performances and an ill-fitting big stage make a retooled version of the classic courtroom drama feel like a missed opportunity.” Robert Hofler of TheWrap was blunter: “‘A Few Good Men’ is a creaky old play.”
A full roundup of reviews, including The New York Times, Vulture and The Wall Street Journal, was compiled by Playbill.
About the author
Miles covers international and touring theater, including Broadway news, for The Broadway Guide.