Journey's End, a play by R. C. Sherriff at the Belasco Theatre. Starring Hugh Dancy, Boyd Gaines, Jefferson Mayes, and Stark Sands. "Journey's End," a seminal play first performed in 1928 puts war in front of an audience more powerfully than 10,000 movies like "Letters from Iwo Jima" combined. We saw this masterpiece of 20th Century theater on Saturday night, in a theater that was only three quarters filled, largely by tourists who probably settled for these tickets at the half-price booth. At the beginning of the play, they were bored and restless, and rather noisy, but by the middle of the second act, you could have heard a pin drop from the stricken audience each member of which surely felt they had been to war along with the brave and valiant cast. Oh what a cast it is! These actors led by the poignant Lieutenant Osborne of Boyd Gaines and the noble Captain Stanhope of Hugh Dancy act their hearts out. They are as well honed and magnificent an ensemble imaginable. I had seen this production in the West End, and not even that superlative cast equaled this one for the sheer force of personality they brought to bear in this tale of just a few days at the front in World War I.
The set and production are simply stunning. The direction by David Grindley is deserving of the highest praise. No one who sees this play will forget the final curtain, coming down slowly and inexorably.
Despite uniformly superlative reviews and a cast filled with top flight talent, "Journey's End" is struggling at the box office. This is a terrible shame. At a time when our country is at war in what seems a hopeless cause, "Journey's End," which starkly presents the terrible toll on our best and brightest youth, has never been more relevant. Broadway Bridge and Tunnel Test grade: A