Show Finder

The Height of the Storm is practically the definition of theater as an event. It offers a rare opportunity to see two high-caliber stage actors — Olivier winners Jonathan Pryce and Eileen Atkins — back on Broadway after 13 years. Manhattan Theatre Club's production at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, a transfer from London's West End, is a worthwhile ticket for that fact alone. But Florian Zeller's play, translated by Christopher Hampton and directed by Jonathan Kent, is also an enormously moving experience, particularly for those who've loved a partner so deeply that it's hard to imagine ever being without them

The attention, naturally, will fall on the two marquee names, and Pryce and, especially, Atkins don’t disappoint. She plays the stronger of the two parents, the type families secretly hope will outlast the one who’d fall apart without the other. Whether arguing with an intrusive daughter (at one point letting fly an audience-shocking obscenity) or peeling mushrooms at a kitchen table (mushrooms, perhaps deadly, weave through the narrative in breadcrumb trailer fashion that may lead nowhere), Atkins commands the stage. In fact, she seems to be commanding every stage in the theater district, so grounded and sharp is her performance. Pryce is her match, given the more traditionally “elderly” character, forgetful and shaky and terrified of both death and its alternative. His nervous repetitions, his fearful retreats, his bellowing outbursts do more than show a character in decline: Pryce’s performance somehow – and simultaneously – suggests the man André was.

Pryce is vulnerable and affecting, his big forehead furrowed and his hands constantly twitching, as if searching for something small and precious he let fall. His, though, is a strong performance, while Atkins seems, simply and a little magically, to be breathing through Madeleine’s lungs. She’s so completely at ease with herself, so entirely un-acty, so agile and sharp without the slightest hint of force, that it’s hard to stop watching her whenever she’s onstage.