In the summer of 1972 \u2014 with tensions of war, Watergate, and the Attica prison uprising roiling in a way that echoes today\u2019s fractious climate \u2014 down-and-out Sonny (Jon Bernthal<\/a>) enlists his sad-sack pal Sal (Ebon Moss-Bacharach<\/a>) to rob a Brooklyn bank. The botched theft becomes a hostage situation, while a mob of cops, FBI agents, media, and onlookers gather on the street. Through the media, Sonny becomes an unlikely sensation \u2014 a vital plot point muted on stage \u2014 even as his unconventional motives complicate public perception.<\/p>\n Told over two-plus hours with an intermission, the dramatization is based on the Al Pacino-led, Oscar-winning 1975 movie, itself drawn from a Life magazine article titled \u201cThe Boys in the Bank.\u201d Director Sidney Lumet\u2019s film managed to balance off-kilter humor and idiosyncratic humanity, but between Guirgis\u2019s script and Goold\u2019s staging, the play misses that mark, and the tone is out of key. It leans too insistently into farce, effectively self-sabotaging and undercutting life-and-death stakes. This story is ripe for get-real, overlapping dialogue. Instead, at times, lines are delivered sitcom-style, as if pausing for a laugh from the audience.<\/p>\n The bulk of the show unfolds inside the Chase Manhattan branch where employees sweat it out as Sonny clumsily negotiates an escape. Other characters communicate with Sonny through phone calls: a compassionate Detective Fucco (John Ortiz<\/a>), whose surname is a running pronunciation joke; stony FBI agent Sheldon (Spencer Garrett<\/a>); and Sonny’s true love, Leon (Esteban Andres Cruz). Goold seeks to use the August Wilson Theatre<\/a> audience to represent the assembled crowd; the strategy is only as successful as the viewers are enthusiastic to play their part.<\/p>\n Bernthal ably anchors the production. With just a slight trace of Pacino\u2019s cadence and voice, he\u2019s alternately intense and likable. Moss-Bachrach is convincing as a depressed loose cannon. Jessica Hecht<\/a>, per usual, lends fine support as head teller Colleen, who, in a twist to an iconic scene from the movie, instructs Sonny to scream \u201cAttica!\u201d<\/p>\n Movies turned into plays, as opposed to musicals, are a bit uncommon, but the impulse to reboot Dog Day Afternoon for the stage is easy enough to understand. Guirgis has made a name and won a Pulitzer Prize (for Between Riverside and Crazy) for writing New York City characters as colorful as they are complex. The themes of identity, power, societal unrest, and desperation are fertile ones to explore. But, in the end, the play is a letdown. Dog Day Afternoon rolls over when it should bite.<\/p>\n Dog Day Afternoon summary<\/p>\n Dog Day Afternoon dramatizes a bungled bank robbery in Brooklyn that was first chronicled in Life magazine in 1972. The article was the basis for 1975 Oscar-winning film Dog Day Afternoon, in which the names of the actual people involved were changed.<\/p>\n The production at the August Wilson Theatre marks the play\u2019s world premiere as well as the Broadway debuts of Jon Bernthal and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, both Emmy Award winners for The Bear.<\/p>\n What to expect at Dog Day Afternoon<\/p>\n Dog Day Afternoon recalls a particular time and place: Brooklyn, August 22, 1972. The production spells that out twice, in a neon sign on stage as well as in the program. It wasn\u2019t just another manic Tuesday when the bizarre but true events were set in motion. Scenic designer David Korins\u2019s evocative and impressively detailed set does plenty of its own spinning, rotating regularly to capture moments inside and outside the bank.<\/p>\n What audiences are saying about Dog Day Afternoon<\/p>\n On Show-Score, a review-aggregating site, the play has earned a score of 87%, with many theatregoers discussing the adaptation, acting, and design.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a brilliant adaptation of a very unbelievable story that touches on the human issues that still exist today \u2013 socioeconomic issues, homophobia, and depression from social rejection, love, fear, loneliness.\u201d Show-Score user Katy P![\"11](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/11_dog_day-1200x600-NYTG.png\")
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\n\u201cWow, from the moment the lights go down the set turns you\u2019re immediately in the vestibule of a bank. The big set makes you feel like you\u2019re right in the middle of it all. The acting was amazing [….]\u201d Show-Score user Liz R
\n\u201c70s nostalgia at its best. Stellar acting coupled with a time warp of a set alongside an excellent score.\u201d Show-Score user Christina H
\n\u201cFull of heart and humor. Bernthal owned the stage and the supporting cast was phenomenal.\u201d Show-Score user
\n\u201cAn impactful story about the bounds of love and desperation and the human condition.\u201d Show-Score user Lisa T
\n\u201cGreat set design and costumes but trope laden writing bordering on offensive.\u201d – Show-Score user Verified A<\/p>\n