This week, the legendary Ethel Barrymore Theater played host to a much-anticipated revival of Shakespeare's Othello, starring none other than Hollywood royalty Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal. The production generated significant buzz with its sky-high ticket prices and a record-breaking debut week. However, as critics finally share their verdicts, the reception has been far from glowing. Many reviewers have expressed disappointment, suggesting that the marquee names weren't enough to elevate this latest take on the timeless tragedy. Read on for the critics' perspectives.

What Is The Plot?

Othello tells the tragic story of a Moorish general named Othello, his secret marriage to Desdemona, and the trials of their love set by Othello's ensign, Iago. Driven by wicked jealousy, Iago convinces Othello that Desdemona has been unfaithful to another officer, fueling doubts that lead to a heartbreaking chain of events with tragic consequences for all involved.

The Reviews

Vulture

"Kenny Leon's passionless new production is about as far from that overlap as it's possible to get. Audience and ensemble alike are lost in a hinterland so disconcertingly sleepy and beige that it's hard to summon anything as visceral as fury."

New York Stage Review

"The tale of Othello is as old as time, but it's the timing and the telling that elevates this ancient classic. Thanks to a bravura company, the telling is first class."

The New York Times

"In short, as I felt the production's blunt force more and more, I grasped its aura and aims less and less."

Broadway News

"This "Othello" is still a once-in-a-lifetime experience be it for this towering cast or its relatability to this current social moment. The depth is all there, but this production simply does not live up to its performers."

New York Post

"It's weird. "Othello" isn't witty "Hamlet." The play is not even as funny as "Macbeth." Maybe it's because they're in the presence of celebrities. But I get the sense that the viewers are searching for something anything to grasp onto on this long, chilly ride they maxed out their credit cards to sit through. And they choose laughter. Laughs in lieu of gasps or tears."

The Guardian

"Directed by Tony winner Kenny Leon, who guided Washington to a Tony in 2010's Fences, this austere, underwhelming take on Shakespeare seems to acknowledge that people are not paying for a revival of this particular play, which hasn't been on Broadway since 1982 and still has rich insights on the masculinity, human fallibility and race over 400 years after its debut. Instead, it's for the opportunity to see Gyllenhaal, one of the most versatile and thrilling millennial actors, and especially the widely beloved Washington, rightly hailed in the Playbill as "the most lauded stage and screen actor of his generation", without the mediation of a screen."

The Daily Beast

"After all the blaring headlines around "Othello" on BroadwayDenzel! Jake! Tickets near a thousand dollars!how strange that the production itself is so lacking in execution."

Entertainment Weekly

"There's nothing wrong with updating a Shakespeare classic from over 500 years ago to reflect modern times and sensibilities. But if you're going to do it then do it! Director Kenny Leon's new production, however, seems caught between reverence for the original source material and a seemingly half-hearted attempt to renovate the setting around which the classic action revolves."

New York Daily News

"Gyllenhaal, who plays Iago, certainly gives the Moor of Venice plenty to fight against, if he chose to do so. Here is far and away the most dynamic performance of the night, a riveting, turbo-charged interpretation that avoids any and all villainous cliches, or flowery self-doubts, and just presents a malevolent but highly effective military guy who sets out to do what he wants to straightforwardly do, a train hurtling down a track, gaining speed with every scene, determined to knock the Othello and Desdemona carriage into the ditch."

Variety

"Clumsily staged by director Kenny Leon, this "Othello" seems to have little on its mind beyond a gritted-teeth determination to carry across the text of the play. "Othello" is "Othello" one of the richest and most wrenching of Shakespeare's tragedies. It would take a wildly misbegotten production to spoil it entirely. But that hypothetical wildly misbegotten production might contain some genuinely big risks; this production, instead, simply falls flat."