‘An Enemy of the People’ reviews: ‘Crackling’ new version stars ‘excellent’ Jeremy Strong, Michael Imperioli

David Buchanan
·6 min read
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It has only been 12 years since New York audiences saw a production of Henrik Ibsen’s classic nineteenth-century play “An Enemy of the People.” But unlike that last staging at the Manhattan Theatre Club, the version that just opened at Circle in the Square Theatre on Mar. 18 is a departure, thanks to the vision of director Sam Gold and a new adaptation of the text by Pulitzer Prize finalist Amy Herzog. “Enemy” runs through June 16, the day of the 2024 Tony Awards.

Gold has attracted star-wattage to his remounting of the Ibsen play with Jeremy Strong in the title role of Dr. Thomas Stockmann, who uncovers that the spas that have made his Norwegian town a booming tourist destination are in fact highly contaminated and will cause many visitors to get sick and potentially die. Michael Imperioli is his brother, Peter Stockmann, the mayor of the town who immediately turns on his brother to save his political hide. The ensemble also stars Victoria Pedretti as Thomas’ daughter Petra, Caleb Eberhardt, David Patrick Kelly, Thomas Jay Ryan, and others.

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Critics were almost unanimously positive about Herzog and Gold’s remounting of the play. In a Critic’s Pick review, Jesse Green (New York Times) calls the production “crackling and persuasive.” He says Ibsen’s work has been “sharpened” by Herzog and that her rewriting features “clean but not noticeably modern phrasings.” He says the cast is “uniformly excellent,” but singles out star Strong, who is “spectacularly accurate yet non-showy,” and Imperioli, who plays his character as “hilariously despicable.” Of the design, he praises the “superb and varied lighting” by Isabella Byrd.

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Sarah Holden (Vulture) echoes many of those sentiments. She commends the playwright and director, who together “have cleared away any fustiness” from how Ibsen is usually staged. She praises Gold’s directorial vision, writing, “It’s thrilling to see an American production push further both into visual metaphor and into physical courage and trust that many are ever willing to go.” She gives kudos to many individual players, writing that both Strong and Imperioli “bring vigorous contemporary affect to the material” and elaborating that in the case of the latter especially, “There’s a casual quality to Imperioli’s performance that becomes more and more insidious as the show goes on.” She also says that Eberhardt is “compellingly torn between sincerity and self-interest,” Ryan is “expertly obsequious,” and that after the show’s climax, Strong and Pedretti together “shine with a new delicate light.”

Not every review was as effusive, though. Naveen Kumar (Washington Post) finds that the production suffers from a “puzzling lack of fire.” He describes Strong as “subdued,” arguing, “Strong seems alive to every moment on stage but not fully implicated in their consequences.” He similarly finds that Imperioli’s “bottled-up-storm-cloud intensity spreads thin on stage.” Nevertheless, he found elements of the production worthwhile, from Herzog’s “streamlined, contemporary vernacular” to the “appealing” Pedretti, the “solid” Eberhardt and the “beautiful, lantern-rich lighting design” by Byrd.

Based on these reviews, “An Enemy of the People” is in very strong position heading into the 2024 Tony Awards. It is one of five shows eligible for Play Revival – barring any decisions to come from the Tony administrators – meaning it will compete for one of only three slots. The other play revivals are “Appropriate,” “Doubt,” “Purlie Victorious” and “Uncle Vanya.” Our users currently place “Enemy” in fifth place in our combined odds, but pending the reception to the unseen “Vanya,” it could easily vault into a top position.

SEE 2024 Tony Awards nominations predictions: Multiple bids for plays ‘Patriots,’ ‘Uncle Vanya,’ ‘Appropriate’ …

What may help it secure that top nomination is Amy Herzog’s contribution. By crafting a new adaptation of Ibsen’s work, the playwright will officially be credited as a Tony nominee should the production receive a Best Revival nom, which does not happen with restagings of works that use the original text. This happened just last year when Herzog was nominated for her work on Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House.” Her husband and director Sam Gold is in an incredibly competitive race with 14 other play directors and just narrowly misses our top five in sixth position. He is a past winner for “Fun Home,” though, and nominators could reward his stripped down but insightful staging.

“Enemy” has relatively more strength in Best Actor, where Jeremy Strong will clearly vie for his first Tony Award. He currently ranks third behind Leslie Odom Jr. (“Purlie Victorious”) and Michael Stuhlbarg (“Patriots”), but with such excellent critics reviews and the spring opening of the show, he is without a doubt win competitive for his return to the Broadway stage after a nearly 16 year absence. The other likely acting nominee from “Enemy” is Strong’s sparring mate Imperioli, who just recently cracked our Featured Actor top five. Critics were likewise effusive for how he brought smarmy arrogance and danger to Mayor Stockmann.

In the design categories, look out for Isabella Byrd to earn her first nomination. “Enemy” marks her Broadway debut, but she is also doing the lighting for the revival of musical “Cabaret” that opens in April, so she could score double bids in her first season on Broadway. Costume designer David Zinn is a favorite of the Tonys with seven nominations and two wins, but he has a whopping five productions opening this season, so the nominators may wish to recognize him for some of his more voluminous or showier work. The other eligible designers are the collective dots in Scenic Design and past Tony nominee Mikaal Sulaiman in Sound Design.

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