Hawkins and Mateen do a great job of throwing us off the track, even if Leon's staging needs to ratchet up the tension. Like any great theatrical tragedy where the outcome is predetermined, half the fun is pretending that the inevitable is impossible. That they are named Lincoln (Hawkins) and Booth (Abdul-Mateen) tells you all you need to know about where she's going that Lincoln works as a whiteface Abraham Lincoln impersonator in an arcade shooting gallery does, too. Parks's dark comedy is a semi-riff on Cain and Abel, the story of two brothers and their birthright. What a thrill it is to be in the presence of Kenny Leon's new revival at the Golden Theatre, where two exciting actors - Corey Hawkins and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II - are picking up the cards and giving us a singular night of theater. In an era of TV reboots, superhero action flicks, and jukebox musicals, this 21-year-old drama proves once again to be one of the most original plays ever to be seen on old Broadway. Corey Hawkins and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in Topdog/Underdog on BroadwayĮven by today's "seen it all" standards, the premise of Suzan-Lori Parks's Pulitzer-winning Topdog/Underdog is audacious.
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