Jackman and Craig in "A Steady Rain"

Last weekend in New York I saw "A Steady Rain," starring Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman. The show is hottest ticket in New York right now despite the recession and ticket prices hovering  around $100.00, and the run has been sold out. So there's really not a lot of reasons to write about this play since if you don't already have a ticket, you probably won't get one. But I wanted to weigh in on the negative reviews the play's been getting, mostly from critics who seem angry that audiences will actually pay money to see two stars at work in an average vehicle (as if we've never paid money to see a summer Hollywood movie).


The play itself is not great. In it, Craig and Jackman's characters spend 90 minutes onstage relating increasingly sordid and violent events that occurred over the course of one summer. There are some humorous and moving passages, but the writing also veers into sentimental pap, mostly concerning a boy and his puppy. Generally, I steer clear of shows that feature puppies or babies in critical plot points (and plays/movies that use the words "hijinks" or "heartfelt" in their advertising), but author Keith Huff sneaks this one in on us. It's not necessary and comes across as contrived.


Jackman and Craig both do credible jobs as Chicago cops and the production, two chairs on an otherwise empty stage enhanced by an occasional backdrop, works well for this material. It's an intense, increasingly morbid descent into hell for one of the characters, which might not be what James Bond and Wolverine fans had in mind when they bought their tickets. Neither man is a super hero — far from it. Both struggle with moral or immoral decisions, their self-deluding recollections, and the realization of who they are and what they want. Despite a few flaws in the material, I found it a compelling hour and a half.