Name: The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window on Broadway Starring Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan
Start: 2023-04-25
End: 2023-07-02
Location: James Earl Jones Theatre

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The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window on Broadway Starring Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan - NYC

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The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window on Broadway Starring Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan

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Oscar Issac is a Golden Globe-winning actor who is best known for his roles as Poe Dameron in *Star Wars* and in numerous television shows and movies including *Inside Llewyn Davis*, *Scenes From a Marriages*, and *Robin Hood*.

Born Óscar Isaac Hernández Estrada on March 9, 1979, in Guatemala City, Isaac’s family moved to the United States soon after he was born, and they eventually settled in Miami. As a child, Isaac took part in school plays and was part of several bands. He eventually went on to study performing arts, first at Miami Dade College and then at Juilliard, where he earned a B.F.A.

During the first few years of his acting career, Isaac performed in several of [The Public Theater](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatres/public-theater)’s Shakespeare in the Park productions, including *Two Gentlemen of Verona* and *Romeo and Juliet*. One of his first big screen roles at the time was as Joseph in *The Nativity Story*, and he landed smaller roles in other movies including *Body of Lies* and *Balibo*.

He later found greater success playing the villains in 2010’s *Robin Hood* and 2011’s *Drive*, eventually landing his biggest role to date playing the titular role in the Coen brothers’ 2013 *Inside Llewyn Davis* opposite Carey Mulligan. He received critical acclaim for his performance and earned his first Golden Globe nomination for the role. 

Isaac’s career then skyrocketed as he starred in several films, including *A Most Violent Year* alongside [Jessica Chastain](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/jessica-chastain) and playing the lead role in *Ex Machina*. In 2015, he was cast in the HBO miniseries *Show Me a Hero*, where he played the lead role, the youngest Yonkers mayor, Nick Wasicsko, and went on to win a Golden Globe.

In the same year, he played Poe Dameron in the new *Star Wars: The Force Awakens*, which went on to be the highest grossing film of the year. Among his success in the film industry, Isaac returned to the stage in 2017 to play Hamlet in the Public’s *Hamlet*, a role he took in honor of his late mother.

Isaac has since taken on numerous other movie roles, including in the next two *Star Wars* films and the sci-fi epic *Dune*. He once again performed opposite Chastain in *Scenes From a Marriage* in 2021 (earning another Golden Globe nomination), and in 2022, he starred in and executive produced the Marvel series *Moon Knight*.

In 2023, Isaac returned to the stage to star alongside [Rachel Brosnahan](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/rachel-brosnahan) in the revival of Lorraine Hansberry’s *The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window* at the [Brooklyn Academy of Music](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatres/harvey-theater-at-bam-strong).

Oscar Isaac - NY

The Broadway production of [*The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/26553-the-sign-in-sidney-brusteins-window-tickets), now running at the [James Earl Jones Theatre](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatres/james-earl-jones-theatre), feels almost antithetical to the play’s debates about the morality and function of art: Two TV and movie stars ([Oscar Isaac](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/oscar-isaac) in the title role and [Rachel Brosnahan](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/rachel-brosnahan) as his wife, Iris) make it a hot ticket, while producers transferred the production from the Brooklyn Academy of Music at the last minute to earn Tony Award nominations. (It earned two, including Best Revival of a Play.)

Lorraine Hansberry’s lengthy play was written before the attention span of the theatregoer was influenced by other media, but the length is no obstacle: If conversations run in circles in the Brustein apartment, it’s because real-world conversations of the personal and political sometimes run in circles. If the characters frustrate each other and the audience through self-sabotage, Hansberry lingers in this discomfort without progress on purpose.

Sidney Brustein — no longer an idealist but still a fighter, no longer a revolutionary but still moved by the plight of the common man — is not the sort of protagonist who speaks to move the plot forward. He doesn’t force revelations to the surface, but lets them arise naturally. He’s like a less suicidal Hamlet (another famed Isaac performance), shooting himself in the foot each time someone hands him a gun. 

Sidney is annoying and self-righteous and insistent he doesn’t harbor the prejudices he so clearly carries (especially towards women, including Iris). Hansberry is not interested in placating the audience or in guiding them to a pre-determined conclusion with Sidney as surrogate — she just hands you the map. You have to decide if you’re going to get there, and how.

The beauty of Hansberry’s play almost makes up for Anne Kauffman’s production, which feels too unsure of itself to linger or make demands. Both Brosnahan and Isaac emit one-note performances that start high and strong but gradually deflate. Isaac, who is onstage almost the whole show, is at times charming and at times funny, but does not differentiate his performance enough through the first two acts. It is only in the third act’s devastation that Isaac finds something worth holding onto.

This third act brings both a foray into the surreal and the appearance of Gus Birney as Gloria, Iris’s younger sister who is hoping to marry Alton (Julian De Niro) and abandon her life as an escort. Birney’s wispy voice is perfect for the ethereal Gloria, whose presence may be an illusion in Kauffman’s more confident third act. Though the characters cavort on pills and find time slowing down, this portion of the play feels the most grounded.

Throughout, Iris and her sister Mavis (the hilarious Miriam Silverman, now a Tony nominee) have made all their choices based on Gloria’s, even if they don’t realize it. Gloria’s life as a sex worker, her drug use, and her depression bring the play into reality: Gone are the morality debates. What’s left is materiality, cold and sharp.

It is all the more disappointing, then, that the play’s first foray into the surreal, as Iris and Sidney play make-believe, falters. The scene is one of the only moments in which characters use the fire escape and balcony from Santiago Orjuela-Laverde, Andrew Moerdyk, and Kimie Nishikawa (the scenic design collective dots). The Brusteins’s playwright neighbor, David Ragin (Glenn Fitzgerald), often writes at his desk atop the main apartment like a guard in a watchtower. Kauffman gives him little else to do to show he is monitoring the Brusteins.

But maybe the Brusteins just aren’t as interesting as they think they are. Maybe this is the point. When she hears of David’s type of drama, Mavis bemoans that there aren’t more plays about ordinary people with ordinary problems. Despite Sidney’s more optimistic friends trudging up his dormant delusions of grandeur, *The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window* is essentially that kind of play (though without the straight-edged naturalism the apartment dwellers deride).

Sidney and Iris’s dreams and disagreements are quotidian and their tragedies all too common, but this relatability does not diminish them or the text. It folds them into the body politic they debate and resist; it is the regular, normal people of Hansberry’s world who will have the chance to change it. Or perhaps they won’t. Perhaps advocating anything is, as Hansberry posits, imposing totalitarianism on the rest of us.

[*The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window* is at the James Earl Jones Theatre through July 2. Get *The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window* tickets on New York Theatre Guide.](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/26553-the-sign-in-sidney-brusteins-window-tickets)

*Photo credit: Rachel Brosnahan and Oscar Isaac in The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window. (Photo by Julieta Cervantes)*

'The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window' review — Lorraine Hansberry's play holds a mirror to the world

Read our review of Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan in *The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window* on Broadway, playing at the James Earl Jones Theatre through July 2.

The **James Earl Jones Theatre** in New York is deeply ingrained in the rich history and dynamism of Broadway performances. This venerable venue, named after the acclaimed actor James Earl Jones, constantly champions theatre arts at their finest. With its tastefully designed interior that complements its avant-garde architectural style, every performance becomes doubly exhilarating due to the unmatchable ambiance. The theater seats hundreds of spectators, providing a phenomenal view of the stage from all angles. Notably, the James Earl Jones theatre ensures the best acoustics, promising an immersive and unforgettable experience. It hosts a multitude of performances every year, including riveting plays, musicals, and award ceremonies, with each event adding a fresh chapter to its story. Relishing a cultural experience here transcends beyond the artistic gratification, it embodies the ethos of New York's vibrant theater culture.

**Getting to the Venue**: The James Earl Jones Theatre is easily accessible by a variety of transport modes. If you're traveling by subway, take the N, R or W lines and alight at 49th street. Alternatively, the 1, C and E lines stop just a short walk away. There are also a number of bus services that run nearby, as well as ample car parking facilities for those driving.

James Earl Jones Theatre - NY

James Earl Jones Theatre

The James Earl Jones Theatre offers an immersive artistic experience in a historic Broadway venue, easily accessible by multiple transportation modes.

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Rachel Brosnahan is a Golden Globe- and Emmy Award-winning actress best known for playing the title character in television series *The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel*.

Born July 12, 1990, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Brosnahan started performing early in life, acting in her junior high and high school musicals. During high school, she got her first role in a movie, the horror film *The Unborn*. From there, she went on to the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, graduating in 2012.

Her first mainstream acting part came in 2013 when she received a recurring role in *House of Cards*, which earned her a Primetime Emmy nomination. During this time, she also made her Broadway debut in Roundabout Theatre Company’s *The Big Knife* and later played Desdemona in New York Theatre Workshop’s *Othello*.

In 2017, Brosnahan achieved her greatest success starring in the Amazon Prime comedy *The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel*. She portrays Midge Maisel, a 1950s Jewish housewife who becomes a stand-up comic when her marriage ends. The series has received critical acclaim and several awards, including an Emmy win for Brosnahan alongside two Golden Globes, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Critics’ Choice Awards. 

Brosnahan has appeared in several other projects including the film *The Courier* with Benedict Cumberbatch and the crime drama *I’m Your Woman*. She also appeared in the 2022 western *Dead for a Dollar* with Willem Defoe and Christoph Waltz.

In 2023, Brosnahan returned to the stage to star alongside [Oscar Isaac](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/oscar-isaac) in the revival of Lorraine Hansberry’s *The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window* at the [Brooklyn Academy of Music](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatres/harvey-theater-at-bam-strong).

Rachel Brosnahan - NY

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The James Earl Jones Theatre, formerly called the Cort Theatre, officially opened on December 20, 1912, with *Peg o' My Heart* starring Laurette Taylor. The venue was originally named after John Cort, founder of the Northwestern Theatrical Association. He commissioned Thomas W. Lamb to design the theatre, which would mirror the Petit Trianon in Versailles. 

The Shubert Organization acquired the theatre in 1927, two years before Cort’s death. It has always been used as a traditional theatre except for the years from 1969 to 1972, when it became a television studio with the broadcast of *The Merv Griffin Show*.

Renovation work began at the Cort Theatre in 2021, and the venue reopened in 2022 under its new name. The building is now named for James Earl Jones, the Tony, Emmy, and Grammy Award-winning actor known for voice roles in *The Lion King* and *Star Wars* films and stage performances in shows including *The Great White Hope* and *Fences*, which both earned him Tony Awards. He also earned a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 2017.

## How to get to the James Earl Jones Theatre on Broadway

The James Earl Jones Theatre is closest to the 47-50 Sts - Rockefeller Center stop on the B, D, F, and M lines. The closest bus stops are 6th Ave/W 49th St. on the M50 line and 6th Ave/W 47th St. on the M5 and M7 lines.


James Earl Jones Theatre - New York Theatre Guide

The James Earl Jones Theatre, previously the Cort Theatre, opened in 1912. It was renamed after the acclaimed actor following renovations in 2022.

James Earl Jones Theatre - TodayTix

James Earl Jones Theatre Seating Plan - NYC - 876 x1324 px

The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window on Broadway Starring Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan Tickets

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