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Wall Street Journal
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
‘Angry Alan' Review: John Krasinski in the Manosphere
New York What's a nice guy like John Krasinski doing in a play called 'Angry Alan'?
Cosmopolitan
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
New York's Off-Broadway Theater Scene Holds a Mirror to Society
I write a lot about Broadway for Cosmopolitan, but I'm here with a very important reminder: There is more to see in the Big Apple than just the multimillion-dollar productions with hefty PR budgets (and even heftier ticket prices!) behind them. I'm talking, of course, about the wild and wonderful world of Off-Broadway—the weird little sibling of New York's vibrant theater scene. If you are craving a night out at the theater but don't want to decimate your bank account, try looking beyond the bright lights of the Great White Way. Off-Broadway shows usually come with more budget-friendly ticket prices. And because these productions aren't shackled by the commercial expectations of big-time investors, they also come with more creative freedom. Without pressure, you better believe they get their freak on. Ticket prices aside, there's another surprising perk—intimate vibes. Smaller productions beget smaller spaces, so no matter where you're sitting, it often feels like you've scored front-row seats. And with fewer people crowding the stage door, your chances of a post-show chat or selfie with someone from the cast go way up. Sold yet? Yeah, I thought so. Now, let me tell you about some must-see new plays that recently hit the stage. This month, I was especially impressed by three shows that shared an unexpected connective thread: politics. For centuries, the stage has been a rebel with a cause—calling out injustice, challenging the status quo, and giving voice to the things we're often too afraid to say out loud. Whether it's a searing monologue on inequality or a bold takedown of democracy's messiest moments, political theater doesn't just reflect the world—it interrogates it. And the best part? It gets us talking. The shows I'm about to highlight are doing just that: sparking important conversations and lighting fires under otherwise comfy seats. You can't have a knee-jerk reaction in a live theater audience the way you can an online forum. You're forced to ruminate until the final curtain. Theater has the unique power to transport us into someone else's shoes; it turns abstract political concepts into deeply human stories, helping audiences feel rather than just think. It builds bridges between communities, fosters empathy, and reminds us that behind every headline is a real, complicated person. The performances I'm about to unpack don't just reflect the world—they push back on it and dive headfirst into issues that matter. This might just be the perfect ticket for any New Yorker entertaining a conservative male relative in town this summer. Angry Alan, which first premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival back in 2018, has toured globally and racked up rave reviews—but 2025 marks its long-awaited New York debut. Playwright Penelope Skinner's dark comedy stars John Krasinski of The Office and A Quiet Place fame and is directed by Tony Award winner Sam Gold (you might recognize his name from the recent Broadway revival of Romeo + Juliet starring Rachel Zegler and Kit Connor). The production also marks the grand opening of one of NYC's most exciting new off-Broadway venues: the freshly renovated Studio Seaview. (And yes, it absolutely delivers.) John plays Roger, a divorced dad who's feeling increasingly lost in a feminist era that no longer seems to make sense to him—until he stumbles upon a slick online grifter à la Andrew Tate, who offers him clarity, validation, and most importantly, a sense of community. What follows is a darkly funny, increasingly unsettling spiral into the manosphere. Peppered with levity, the play follows Roger as he gleefully tumbles down an online rabbit hole. John leans into Roger's male grievances with terrifying precision. A red-pilled Jim Halpert was definitely not on my 2025 bingo card, but John is absolutely brilliant in a role that peels back the layers of incel culture with chilling effect. His performance lays bare how easy it is for angry men and young boys to fall into these toxic ideologies. The show is tense and probing, and—surprisingly—left me with a sliver of sympathy for a generation of men turning blindly toward conservatism for comfort and camaraderie. It made me wonder how many of them are (Spooky!) But it also left me asking, How do we fix this? The onus shouldn't fall on women, queer folks, and people of color to smooth over patriarchal tension with empathy and understanding. Yet all too often, it does. We're implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) expected to absorb discomfort, to educate from the margins, to soften truth into something more 'palatable' for those in power. And yet…Penelope's script does just that—with grace. Her words gently extend a hand to the men who need to see this play the most. She humanizes them. She makes it harder to look away. Fingers crossed they actually show up. Get tickets for this strictly limited engagement now through August 3: BUY 'ANGRY ALAN' TICKETS HERE The Lucille Lortel Theatre isn't just any Off-Broadway venue—it's the launchpad. It's the place where buzzy downtown plays become full-blown cultural moments. Oh, Mary! first got its start (and early sold-out status) here before its successful Broadway transfer. It recently played host to Andrew Scott (aka 'Hot Priest' from Fleabag) in his solo adaptation of Anton Chekhov's play revival of Vanya—yes, that revival, the one everyone couldn't stop raving about. And before that, Adam Driver called this theater his home for a limited engagement of Hold On to Me Darling. Now, it's Jay Ellis's turn under the Lortel lights. If Jay's name rings a bell—and let's be real, it should—it's probably for playing Lawrence on the groundbreaking HBO comedy Insecure, where he starred for five seasons opposite former Cosmopolitan cover queen Issa Rae. Currently, you can catch him on Netflix alongside Brenda Song (another Cosmo cover girl!) in the new Mindy Kaling series Running Point. And as if that's not enough, later this year, he's costarring opposite freshly minted Tony winner Sarah Snook in Peacock's All Her Fault, adapted from the Andrea Mara novel. Jay is having a moment. But back to the play. In Duke & Roya, written by Charles Randolph-Wright and directed by Tony Award winner Warren Adams, Jay stars as Duke, an American hip-hop megastar. Duke finds himself in war-torn Kabul, where he meets Roya (Stephanie Nur), a fiercely resilient Afghan interpreter. The two connect in a world where connection feels impossible—and what unfolds is a high-stakes romance that navigates fame, survival, culture, and sacrifice. Think less 'star-crossed' and more 'battle-tested,' as their relationship redefines what it really means to fight for love. The cast is stacked: Olivier Award winner and Tony nominee Noma Dumezweni (of Only Murders in the Building, The Little Mermaid, and Murderbot fame) and Dariush Kashani add serious theatrical gravitas. Oh, and did I mention EGOT winner John Legend is on the producing team? With that knowledge, you can safely expect a front row packed with bold-faced names. In short? The Lortel's done it again—and this time, the stakes are global, the cast is elite, and the love story just might leave you breathless. Get tickets for this strictly limited 11-week engagement, opening June 24: BUY 'DUKE & ROYA' TICKETS HERE If you're on the prowl for a horny, thought-provoking play that's as academic as it is avant-garde, Jordan Tannahill has written just the script for you! You can catch it at Playwrights Horizons where it's currently playing as a co-production with Soho Rep. Prince Faggot is sharp, emotional, and perfectly timed for Pride Month. With a powerhouse cast made up entirely of queer and trans performers, it doesn't just tell a story—it lives it. Set in a not-so-distant future, the play—directed by OBIE Award winner Shayok Misha Chowdhury—imagines Prince George (John McCrea) all grown up, back from university and very casually coming out to his parents, Prince William (K. Todd Freeman) and Princess Kate (Rachel Crowl). His sister Charlotte, Princess of Wales (N'yomi Allure Stewart), already knew, of course. He introduces them to his boyfriend, Dev Chatterjee (Mihir Kumar, who appears in the latest season of And Just Like That...)—a slightly older Indian classmate who grew up an outsider but is now stuck somewhere between royal and subject. What follows is a layered look at what it means to be in the public eye while navigating love, identity, and tradition. Royal drama? Sure. But there's more than just headlines—which royal communications director Jacqueline (David Greenspan) hilariously conjectures—and palace intrigue here. The narrative takes some bold leaps through time (spoiler: the final act lands us in the year 2045), ending with what can only be described as a very 21st-century fairy tale: a royal same-sex wedding. But the real magic of the show lies in its depth. It tackles a whole spectrum of complex themes—privilege, kink (specifically watersports, shibari, and fisting for anyone curious), chemsex, queerness in childhood, trans identity, power in relationships, the weight of the monarchy, and yes, colonization. It's a lot, but it's handled with clarity, sensitivity, and the kind of sharp writing that never talks down to its audience. There are moments that make you laugh out loud, and others that hit like a punch to the gut. It's emotional, fearless, and—somehow—still manages to feel hopeful. Honestly? I was completely hooked from start to finish. Described in press notes as a 'meta-theatrical tragicomedy,' these performances don't just entertain—they educate, provoke, and spark real conversations. Bring a friend! It's worth noting that the ushers make you turn your phone off and place it in a Yondr pouch before you're able to take your seat. AND IT'S A DIVINE TOUCH! Meant to protect the cast's privacy (there's a lot of nudity they don't want people to sneakily record), it also inadvertently creates the perfect viewing experience as an audience member. I caught the first and second previews of this production, and as an avid theatergoer, I can safely attest it was the first and second time I've attended a show over the past decade where not a single phone went off. The way God intended. I'm low-key hoping more theaters adopt this practice. Get tickets for this limited engagement, now extended through July 13: BUY 'PRINCE FAGGOT' TICKETS HERE Final pro tip for the most budget-friendly among us: 99¢ Sundays—Soho Rep's longstanding and beloved tradition—will take place on the evening of June 29. All seats in the house will be sold for 99¢ and will only be available at the door on the day of the performance.
USA Today
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
'Angry Alan' review: John Krasinski plunges into the manosphere
'Angry Alan' review: John Krasinski plunges into the manosphere Show Caption Hide Caption John Krasinski, Natalie Portman talk 'Fountain of Youth' car chase John Krasinski, Natalie Portman reveal they were genuinely frightened while shooting car chase in 'Fountain of Youth.' NEW YORK — Modern men are in a crisis. A quick Google search will warn you that guys are feeling more isolated, depressed and suicidal than ever before. One of those gents is Roger (John Krasinski), a perfectly mediocre and seemingly innocuous fortysomething. Roger is now a dairy manager at Kroger after losing his plum desk job at AT&T. He's divorced but has a steady girlfriend, and a teenage son whom he sees every so often as long as the child support checks clear. Roger is also deeply insecure and consumed by a grievous pastime: He's a fanatical, card-carrying men's rights activist. His chilling descent — from lonely new convert to even lonelier zealot — is the provocative subject of 'Angry Alan,' an incisive and pitch-black comedy for our current dread-filled hellscape. Written by British playwright Penelope Skinner, and grippingly directed by Sam Gold ('An Enemy of the People'), the spiky one-man show opened off-Broadway June 11 at Studio Seaview. It's a politically incorrect minefield that most Hollywood agents would chuck right in the trash, as Roger rants and pontificates about sexual assault victims, the mainstream media and his own narrow views of gender. It is to Krasinski's credit that he'd choose to come back to theater with an original work that is both challenging and potentially rife for misinterpretation. As Roger, the 'Jack Ryan' star cleverly inverts his all-American, good-guy persona, creating a character who is eager to be liked yet not above reproach. Imagine 'The Office' prankster Jim Halpert, but with an extreme case of Joe Rogan-induced brain rot. When the play begins, Roger has just tumbled down a digital rabbit hole of the fictional Angry Alan, an Andrew Tate-like messiah who preaches that 'most men are intrinsically good,' and it's the so-called 'gynocracy' that is keeping them down. Through his anti-feminist videos and blog posts, Roger feels that finally someone understands the inadequacy and frustration he's been harboring for years. And so, he plunges further into the manosphere: donating money he doesn't have to unspecified 'male mental health' causes, and attending a seminar on 'Reclaiming Your Masculine Power.' He invites his buddy Dave to an Angry Alan men's rights conference, but Dave is down-and-out after harassing a woman at an office Christmas party. 'All this 'Me Too' business is very simple until you actually know the guy who gets accused,' Roger shrugs. At times, the production feels like the most stomach-churning TED Talk you've ever been subjected to. Krasinski spends most of the 85-minute runtime in Roger's drab, suburban living room (claustrophobically rendered by design collective Dots), clicking through photos and talking points like a rage-baiting snake-oil salesman. Skinner toes a gossamer line of attempting to understand the root of Roger's pain, but stops short of rubber-stamping his bigotry and entitlement. For the most part, she succeeds in making Roger's tangents at once frighteningly familiar and preposterous to the point of parody. (In one moment, he whines about the 'Fifty Shades of Grey' phenomenon, questioning why the modern American woman 'wants to be president and she wants to be spanked on the bottom.') Krasinski returns to the New York stage for the first time since 2016's "Dry Powder," after years spent straddling popcorn action movies ("Fountain of Youth") with directorial passion projects ("A Quiet Place"). Monologuing for an hour and a half is no walk in the park, but the genial A-lister tackles the task at hand with aw-shucks charisma and confidence. It's an ingenious stroke of casting that instantly endears the audience to Roger, even as his behavior becomes increasingly manic and unhinged. Krasinski will knock you sideways as the play hurtles toward its shocking finish, revealing impressive new shades as an actor that we haven't seen from him before. "Angry Alan" is a Molotov cocktail, igniting difficult conversations about how we got to our present-day American nightmare. It's messy and imperfect and offers no easy answers, forcing theatergoers to confront the fragile-egoed monsters lurking just behind their laptop screens. "Angry Alan" is now running at Studio Seaview (305 W. 43rd Street) through Aug. 3.
The Guardian
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Angry Alan review – John Krasinski gets red-pilled in a tense, timely play
There's something endearing, even a little disarming, about seeing John Krasinski back in some ill-fitting khaki slacks. Though now a bona fide movie star, the 45-year-old actor remains most beloved by wide swaths of middle America for playing Jim Halpert, the perennial guy-next-door with a thankless white-collar job and a deadpan sense of humor on the long-running NBC sitcom The Office. On stage at the relatively intimate Studio Seaview in midtown Manhattan, Krasinski once again inhabits the aw-shucks amiability of your average suburban white guy, the type of guy you'd want to grab a beer with or, just maybe, give a hug. Such affability makes Krasinski a slyly perfect avatar for the concerns of Angry Alan, an Americanization of British writer Penelope Skinner's 2018 play now running off-Broadway, which darkly imagines what would happen if Jim Halpert got laid off, divorced and disillusioned. Or more accurately, what would happen if such a man found himself lonely, depressed, disappointed and on the internet. Such a man is named Roger, an ex-AT&T cog in the midwest who, in the 90-minute play's first scene, stumbles through an internet wormhole onto the videos of a men's rights figure named Angry Alan. Roger, confidently played by Krasinski with an unconfident, frenetic, near desperate energy and beseeching upspeak, is an upbeat guy with seemingly mild political persuasions; he tells us, in one of his cascading direct addresses – Angry Alan is, for the most part, a one-man show that chips at the boundary between performer and audience – that he pays his child support payments to ex-wife Suzanne on time, loves his son Joe and even encouraged new girlfriend Courtney to take art classes with nude models at the local community college. Nevertheless, he gets easily – too easily, I would argue – sucked into Alan's black-and-white worldview of a gynocracy out of control, the feminist movement gone too far, leaving modern men oppressed and 'in crisis'. In a matter of days, Roger becomes a true believer at the expense of his relationships – namely, Courtney and her new pink pussy hat-era liberal friends, as Suzanne already resents him. In a matter of weeks, he's attending an in-person men's rights conference and a 'gold donor' to Alan's cause – the YouTuber, modeled in part on the pseudo-psychology of Jordan Peterson, also bilks his subscribers for money, a characterization that makes the appeal of his ideology feel less insidious than it should; the spectrum of men's rights arguments works not just for financial suckers. The ideological lines in Angry Alan may be a little stark and the targets too easy – the fact that Roger is so credulous, so unwitting and also a night manager at Kroger makes a troubling implication about the class and intelligence of those drawn to the so-called manosphere. But Skinner's updated text, created with Don Mackay and directed here by Sam Gold, goes to great, compelling lengths to shade in the details of a human heart misguided by isolation of modernity, the pressures of masculinity and most prominently, the internet. There's plenty of truth to Roger's observations that men are socialized not to be vulnerable, pressured to make money and see their value in terms of financial contributions; that third-wave feminism can be confusing and at times hypocritical; that the #MeToo movement was not always fair; that people's politics are, by and large, idiosyncratic and imperfect. And there's plenty of pain in his predicament – laid off by a corporation that never cared about him, unable to communicate effectively with his son, feeling left behind. Feeling a lot, and with few tools to handle it. Skinner's great insight, as a writer, is how these elements curdle into hate and resentment. (The stage design by the prolific collective dots, which imagines Roger's living room with skewed eyelines and a sloped floor, evokes the flattening, reality-warping effect of social media.) Roger's stream-of-conscious illustrates the slippery slope from hurt feelings to 'men's mental health', the fine line between embracing vulnerability and weaponizing resentment, why someone would be desperate to hear 'men are intrinsically good' and then take it the wrong way. But the play's main draw in the manosphere-dominant year of 2025 is Krasinski, who ultimately delivers a masterful performance that not only conveys Roger's loneliness and delusion but the confusion, bewilderment and hurt of the women around him. That the rushed ending, with a late-stage twist, is as effective as it is owes to his body near vibrating with currents of shame, confusion, hate and, yes, anger. It's a fascinating use of the everyman quality, turning our sympathy to someone who espouses misogyny, playing into aspects of traditional masculinity while evincing its traps, framing red-pill ideology as poison and straight men's feelings as prey. One could contest the framing, but I can't begrudge empathy, nor the potential that Jim Halpert might give some unsuspecting boyfriends a surprise warning.
USA Today
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
'Angry Alan' review: John Krasinski is brilliantly disturbing as a men's rights activist
'Angry Alan' review: John Krasinski is brilliantly disturbing as a men's rights activist Show Caption Hide Caption John Krasinski, Natalie Portman talk 'Fountain of Youth' car chase John Krasinski, Natalie Portman reveal they were genuinely frightened while shooting car chase in 'Fountain of Youth.' NEW YORK — Modern men are in a crisis. A quick Google search will warn you that guys are feeling more isolated, depressed and suicidal than ever before. One of those gents is Roger (John Krasinski), a perfectly mediocre and seemingly innocuous fortysomething. Roger is now a dairy manager at Kroger after losing his plum desk job at AT&T. He's divorced but has a steady girlfriend, and a teenage son whom he sees every so often as long as the child support checks clear. Roger is also deeply insecure and consumed by a grievous pastime: He's a fanatical, card-carrying men's rights activist. His chilling descent — from lonely new convert to even lonelier zealot — is the provocative subject of 'Angry Alan,' an incisive and pitch-black comedy for our current dread-filled hellscape. Written by British playwright Penelope Skinner, and grippingly directed by Sam Gold ('An Enemy of the People'), the spiky one-man show opened off-Broadway June 11 at Studio Seaview. It's a politically incorrect minefield that most Hollywood agents would chuck right in the trash, as Roger rants and pontificates about sexual assault victims, the mainstream media and his own narrow views of gender. It is to Krasinski's credit that he'd choose to come back to theater with an original work that is both challenging and potentially rife for misinterpretation. As Roger, the 'Jack Ryan' star cleverly inverts his all-American, good-guy persona, creating a character who is eager to be liked yet not above reproach. Imagine 'The Office' prankster Jim Halpert, but with an extreme case of Joe Rogan-induced brain rot. When the play begins, Roger has just tumbled down a digital rabbit hole of the fictional Angry Alan, an Andrew Tate-like messiah who preaches that 'most men are intrinsically good,' and it's the so-called 'gynocracy' that is keeping them down. Through his anti-feminist videos and blog posts, Roger feels that finally someone understands the inadequacy and frustration he's been harboring for years. And so, he plunges further into the manosphere: donating money he doesn't have to unspecified 'male mental health' causes, and attending a seminar on 'Reclaiming Your Masculine Power.' He invites his buddy Dave to an Angry Alan men's rights conference, but Dave is down-and-out after harassing a woman at an office Christmas party. 'All this 'Me Too' business is very simple until you actually know the guy who gets accused,' Roger shrugs. At times, the production feels like the most stomach-churning TED Talk you've ever been subjected to. Krasinski spends most of the 85-minute runtime in Roger's drab, suburban living room (claustrophobically rendered by design collective Dots), clicking through photos and talking points like a rage-baiting snake-oil salesman. Skinner toes a gossamer line of attempting to understand the root of Roger's pain, but stops short of rubber-stamping his bigotry and entitlement. For the most part, she succeeds in making Roger's tangents at once frighteningly familiar and preposterous to the point of parody. (In one moment, he whines about the 'Fifty Shades of Grey' phenomenon, questioning why the modern American woman 'wants to be president and she wants to be spanked on the bottom.') Krasinski returns to the New York stage for the first time since 2016's "Dry Powder," after years spent straddling popcorn action movies ("Fountain of Youth") with directorial passion projects ("A Quiet Place"). Monologuing for an hour and a half is no walk in the park, but the genial A-lister tackles the task at hand with aw-shucks charisma and confidence. It's an ingenious stroke of casting that instantly endears the audience to Roger, even as his behavior becomes increasingly manic and unhinged. Krasinski will knock you sideways as the play hurtles toward its shocking finish, revealing impressive new shades as an actor that we haven't seen from him before. "Angry Alan" is a Molotov cocktail, igniting difficult conversations about how we got to our present-day American nightmare. It's messy and imperfect and offers no easy answers, forcing theatergoers to confront the fragile-egoed monsters lurking just behind their laptop screens. "Angry Alan" is now running at Studio Seaview (305 W. 43rd Street) through Aug. 3.
