john lithgow stars as Roald Dahl in Giant, which opened March 23 at the Music Box Theatre; the play stages a 1983 confrontation over Dahl’s published review and the public outrage it sparked, reopening discussion of prejudice embedded in his work. The production transferred from London with director Nicholas Hytner and a company that won Olivier Awards in 2025. As of March 24, 2026 (ET), the Broadway run is drawing attention for both its performances and the moral questions at its center.
John Lithgow Leads ‘Giant’ on Broadway
The play is set in a makeshift dining room at Gipsy House in 1983, where Roald Dahl, played here by John Lithgow, is poised to publish The Witches after prior successes in children’s fiction. In the drama, Dahl has just published a review of a photography book called God Cried; the text stages the writer’s words that provoked outrage—the play places the character issuing lines such as “Never before in the history of man has a race of people switched so rapidly from being much pitied victims to barbarous murderers, ” and asking, “Must Israel, like Germany, be brought to her knees before she learns how to behave in this world?” The moment functions as the inciting incident that propels the narrative and the public backlash depicted onstage.
Staging, Cast and Critical Track Record
Nicholas Hytner directs the transfer, reprising the staging first seen in London. The company features Elliot Levey reprising his Olivier-winning role as publisher Tom Maschler, Aya Cash as U. S. publisher Jessie Stone, and Rachael Stirling as Felicity Crosland, supported by Stella Everett as Hallie and David Manis as Wally. Scenic and costume design are by Bob Crowley, lighting by Anna Watson, sound by Darron L West, and wig, hair, and makeup by Campbell Young Associates; Juniper Street Productions manages production operations. The London run earned three 2025 Olivier Awards, including Best New Play and acting wins for the lead performers, a record the transfer brings to Broadway.
The Broadway opening night drew a broad theater community turnout and formal backing from several producers, including Brian and Dayna Lee, Stephanie Kramer and Nicole Kramer, Josh Fiedler and Robyn Goodman, and the Royal Court Theatre. The transfer highlights both artistic ambition and the cultural stakes of presenting a dramatization of a writer whose public comments have provoked sustained debate.
Immediate Reactions and the Play’s Central Line
Onstage, the character’s provocation is delivered directly: the play quotes the charged language attributed to Dahl’s review, spoken in the dramatization as a fulcrum for the ensuing outrage. The performance choices—casting, direction, and the text’s close attention to that 1983 episode—shape immediate audience and critical response in the theater and beyond.
Quick context: the production arrives amid ongoing discussion of Dahl’s legacy; in 2023, hundreds of words in his books were altered or omitted to remove negative references to race, skin color, ethnicity, gender, and disabilities. The Broadway transfer follows a U. K. world premiere and the company’s Olivier recognition in 2025.
What’s next: reviews and public reaction will continue to unfold now that Giant is on the Main Stem, and the run will be watched for whether the stage confrontation shifts conversation about historical figures and culpability in public life. The company’s scheduled performances and critical response will determine whether the production deepens or reframes the debate that the play dramatizes; john lithgow’s portrayal remains the central axis around which that reckoning turns.
