Jon Bernthal, Brian D. Coats, Jessica Hecht (Photo: Evan Zimmerman)
Dog Day Afternoon
By Fern Siegel
In August 1972, a Chase Bank robbery gone wrong quickly turned into one of the biggest media circuses in New York City history.
Although the vault was half-empty, the robbers, John (“Sonny”) Wojtowicz and Salvatore Naturile, did collect monies — until a teller tripped an alarm and the police arrived. The robbers then took eight people inside the bank as hostages and endured a 14-hour standoff.
The catch was the ostensible reason for the hold-up. Wojtowicz wanted to secure money for his trans lover’s sex-change surgery, though the relationship was volatile. The event was recreated as a remarkable film, Dog Day Afternoon, starring Al Pacino in a career-defining post–“Godfather” performance. Earning six Oscar noms and winning for Best Screenplay, the Sidney Lumet–directed film became a critical hit.
So why make it into a play?
Now on Broadway at the August Wilson Theatre, Dog Day Afternoon stars Emmy winners Jon Bernthal as Sonny and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Sal, both co-stars on The Bear. Directed by Rupert Goold with a script by Stephen Adly Guirgis (Between Riverside and Crazy), the acting is uniformly strong. Jessica Hecht is a scene-stealing standout as the head teller.
Guirgis, known for his gritty New York street sensibilities, has added backstories and oddly, stereotypical personalities to the female hostages. The hot-blooded Latina, the ditz, the hippie, the tramp are reduced to cheap jokes. But what’s off-balance in what should be a tense drama: there is no tension. And Brooklyn, which was a key character in the story, is MIA, save for the occasional accent.
Though it’s billed as a “queer love story,” we don’t learn of Sonny’s reasons, or meet his “wife,” Leon, (Esteban Andres Cruz), a prostitute and mental patient, until the second act. Guirgis has added some pontifications that sound more 2026 than mid-Seventies. Or as Sonny tells Mr. Butterman (Michael Kostroff), the bank manager: “But to be a homosexual — okay – it ain’t a bad thing. Not at all. Who saved you from Sal, huh? A homosexual. Who’s keeping you all alive in here? A homosexual. If ya ask me, it’s a lot harder, a lot more manly, to swim against the tide, to be true to oneself under the eyes of God above.”
Guirgis also posits the relationship with Leon as far warmer than it actually was. And while being homosexual or trans in 1972 was still a source of scandal in some circles — and a sensational topic for Hollywood to broach — it scans differently now, even given the right-wing attacks.
Wilemina Olivia-Garcia, Andrea Syglowski, Jon Bernthal, Elizabeth Canavan, Paola Lázaro, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Michael Kostroff (Photo: Evan Zimmerman)
Sal is played as a garden-variety psycho without any subtlety, while Sonny’s anger lacks nuance. All his emotions are delivered in the same tone. In addition, Sonny’s sexuality seems reductive rather than complicated. He had a legal wife, two kids and then “married” Leon, who struggled with Sonny’s jealousy. Even vulnerable Leon makes a pass at a cop, which doesn’t track, while describing herself as a “whore.”
In short, the Broadway version of the story is simplistic, rather than layered, and devoid of any real stakes. In actuality, the hot summer night and the crowd’s support was palpable cinematically, thanks to tight editing.
Here, the revolving stage has two primary scenes, inside and outside the bank, with a quick-hit at a generic liquor store. Set design is by David Robins, with costumes by Brenda Abbandandolo, lighting by Isabella Byrd and sound design by Cody Spencer. But missing external participation, save for a NYPD officer (John Ortiz) trying to make headway with Sonny, and a gruff FBI agent (Spencer Garrett) who disses everyone, the production feels small. The drama, which should be constant, then heightened, evaporates. This bank heist is bankrupt.
At the August Wilson Theatre
245 West 52nd St.
Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.
Through July 12, 2026
