Michelle Williams’ Stage Return in Anna Christie Misses the Mark in Dated Eugene O’Neill Revival
Oscar-nominated actress Michelle Williams makes her long-awaited return to the stage in a new production of Eugene O’Neill’s Anna Christie at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn — but critics say the revival fails to find its emotional or dramatic footing.
Directed by Thomas Kail (Hamilton, Fosse/Verdon) and co-starring Bryan d’Arcy James and Tom Sturridge, the production attempts to breathe new life into O’Neill’s 1922 Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a young woman seeking redemption after a life of hardship. However, despite the prestige and star power involved, the result has been described as a misfire weighed down by uneven performances, heavy-handed direction, and a dated script.
A Difficult Role and a Dated Text
Williams plays Anna, the estranged daughter of Swedish barge captain Chris Christopherson (d’Arcy James), who reunites with her father after years apart. Having endured abuse and time in a brothel, Anna seeks a new beginning, but her turbulent past resurfaces when she falls for a ship stoker, Mat Burke (Sturridge).
The problem, according to critics, is that the production never finds a believable emotional rhythm. Williams, now 45, is playing a character written as a young woman in her early twenties — a disconnect that makes the story’s tension and fragility difficult to sustain.
“Williams is obviously the star attraction,” wrote Vanity Fair’s Richard Lawson. “But in all her tearful fluster and gathered mettle, she can’t get a handle on the role. It’s an unfortunate bit of miscasting that leaves the production struggling to find its center of gravity.”
Direction That Overcomplicates Simplicity
Kail’s staging introduces numerous theatrical flourishes — fog machines, set rearrangements, and an overhead metal beam — meant to evoke the play’s maritime setting and emotional turbulence. Yet many of these choices are seen as distractions rather than enhancements.
Original music by Nicholas Britell (Succession, Moonlight) underscores lengthy transitions, but even that acclaimed score can’t mask what Lawson calls a “tedious and mercurial staging.”
“It’s all adornment of a sinking ship,” Lawson wrote. “A production that seems to have no concrete or compelling stance on what forces have sent these people crashing into one another.”
A Cast Lost at Sea
The supporting performances fare little better. D’Arcy James provides some warmth and humanity as the guilt-ridden father, but his nuanced delivery is often overshadowed by Williams and Sturridge’s erratic performances.
Sturridge’s portrayal of Mat Burke — the Irish sailor who falls for Anna — veers into exaggerated melodrama, with his accent and physicality described as “big acting-class choices that don’t legibly translate as human.”
The actors’ inconsistent dialects have also drawn attention. Critics note that the Swedish father sounds Irish, the Irish lover sounds British, and Williams’ accent fluctuates between Minnesotan and Brooklynese.
A Ship Without a Compass
Despite O’Neill’s status as one of America’s great playwrights, Anna Christie remains one of his lesser-performed works — and this revival does little to change that. The production’s combination of miscasting, tonal imbalance, and visual overindulgence results in what some reviewers have labeled a “theatrical experiment rather than a cohesive performance.”
Kail and Williams, who are married, reportedly saw Anna Christie as an opportunity to explore creative partnership on stage. But for audiences, the result feels more like an academic exercise than a meaningful reinterpretation of a classic.
The Verdict
With its moral ambiguity, outdated gender politics, and overwrought performances, this Anna Christie revival fails to justify its return to the stage. While the creative team’s ambition is undeniable, the execution leaves both critics and audiences adrift.
Anna Christie runs through January 2026 at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn.
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