The intimacy of the Golden Theatre keeps us close to these men for more than two hours, and watching them is thrilling.Īs the characters’ names suggest, Topdog/Underdog -which won a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 and has only grown in reputation since -offers an open invitation to be read allegorically, and Parks’s dazzling text gives you a lot to think about afterwards.

He lacks the con-man confidence of his older brother, Lincoln, played by Corey Hawkins-who makes an unforgettable first entrance dressed as Honest Abe himself, in whiteface makeup, a strap-on beard and a stovepipe hat. In the deeply absorbing Broadway revival of Suzan-Lori Parks’s 2001 two-hander, Abdul-Mateen plays a would-be street grifter named Booth (or 3-Cards, as he aspirationally insists on being called) as the curtain rises, he is practicing his monte, but his card-sharp skills are dull. The union is asking media companies for, among other items, increased residuals for streaming programs, more transparency about streaming audiences, minimum staffing levels for writers rooms and regulations on the use of artificial intelligence in writing.“Watch me close watch me close now,” says Yahya Abdul-Mateen II at the very start of Topdog/Underdog, as though anyone would want to look elsewhere. The WGA called the strike Monday night, the day its contract expired, after negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, representing studios and streamers, failed. The Drew Barrymore Show, distributed by CBS Media Ventures, has wrapped production on its season. NBCUniversal’s The Kelly Clarkson Show also has guild writers - but tapes episodes in advance and thus has a bank of shows on which to draw. The show has a batch of previously taped original episodes that will air this week and part of next week, but it will be in repeats after that. The Talk, which does staff WGA writers, is going dark during the strike.

Live With Kelly and Mark is also unaffected by the strike, as is the syndicated Tamron Hall (both The View and Hall’s show are produced by ABC News). Marvel Hits Pause on 'Blade' Due to Writers Strike (Exclusive)

Topdog underdog review