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Video: Inside OTHELLO's Opening Night with Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal
Mar 25, 2025
The stars came out to celebrate last night at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, where Shakespeare's Othello took its first Broadway bow in the 21st century. The revival is helmed by Kenny Leon and features Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal as the iconic nemeses. Watch as we take you inside the big night with the cast and creative team in this video.
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0:00
I think it was a good show
0:01
I think we, we, it felt good. It sounded good. You know, I can always tell, by the way, it sounds when I'm in the dressing room
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This is an experience that I feel like I've, you know, is lifetime's worth
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And the night itself is just in addition to it I never thought would be
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It's incredible. Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World
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Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal are back on Broadway in director Kenny Leon's new production of Othello
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and we're here on opening night. Shakespeare wrote it, what, 400 years ago
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and, you know, it's an honor to... You have to meet Shakespeare where he lives
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He's the best, he's the best writer, you know, and at August Wilson Fellows not that bad either
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And the other five of William. and Alby and those fellows, but Shakespeare's are the best, and there's always a challenge
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and a chance that you take when you approach his home. First, to me in the presence of William Shakespeare, to me, I've been humbled to
1:19
for a year now, we're working on his words, and I'm humbled daily, and then to be in front
1:26
of that crowd with President Biden and all the extraordinary minds in that space was overwhelming and just I was just full of gratitude To be able to speak those words in front of minds like that is this is an experience that I feel like I you know is
1:44
lifetimes worth and the night itself is just in addition to it I never thought would be. It's incredible
1:53
I feel excited to be here. We've gone to three weeks of previews and five and three
1:57
six weeks of rehearsal and wrestling with probably the greatest play ever. It's definitely
2:03
you're in the bowels, you're in the guts of dealing with jealousy, envy, love, all that stuff
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So I feel sort of relieved to be here opening night and I'm
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so proud of what's on that stage. It's been a joy to work with Denzel for the
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third time and to watch he and Jake play together on that stage
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to watch these women, Molly Arsbourne and Kimbrose Sprawls. It's been a joy for me as director
2:31
Well, I've never designed Othello before, and so it's an incredible play
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It's an incredibly plot-driven play. The story is arresting. You can't take your eyes off of it
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You want to see what happens next. You kind of can't believe it some of the time, and other times it feels so desperately sad
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You want to sort of go up in there and stop the characters from doing what they're doing
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and I find that pretty thrilling. I also loved working with Kenny Leon again
2:57
I worked with them a number of times and it always exciting diving into a new project with him The people that are involved in this production are so beautiful so loving so amazing There so much heart in this show
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And I feel so lucky to have connected with everyone in the cast, in the creative team, in the crew that work in the theater
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Just really, really amazing, amazing people who love what they do and are incredible at what they do
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It's very inspiring. It's crazy. I feel overwhelmed. to buy gratitude. This has probably been the most intense week of my life. And I am just so, I don't know
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I think back to like 14 year old me who was just dreaming of a moment like this. And I don't even have
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words to describe it. It's a dream come true. Well, let's talk about the audience. What I love about
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this is a lot of the young audience members that are coming to experience theater for the very first time
3:56
Yes. What that means to as an artist. Oh, man, that's why you do it. Yeah. If I'm ever feeling
4:00
cranky or tired or like, oh, I don't really want to do it tonight. I always think of that person who
4:05
at one point was me, who was coming to see a play for the first time. And you have to do it for those
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people. And you have to do it for everyone. But specifically those people who are here to see
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what this is all about. And there's nothing like the live experience. And you can change someone's
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life in two hours. And so that's, it's the reason we do it. The most special thing about it is
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the community, the cast. We've all worked so hard. And we have such a passion for
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Shakespeare and it not lost on us how iconic this moment is so do it with Dinsel and Jake And we been great collaborators and that been very special I think I was telling a cast member it insane that 400 years later we can be
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speaking this text, and it's so relevant, and I'm just so happy that the next generation can apply
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this text to their life, the way I have. I mean, this is my official Broadway debut. I was an understudy
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and impressionism all those many moons ago, and I think we closed before we opened, so this is a much
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Ship and experience. I am over the moon, man. I think what's made it special, really, is, you know, it's Shakespeare, and the fact that
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we're taking it and we're trying to really make it relatable to the audience. I mean, to me, that says a lot
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It's a really, really tough play in terms of what we're talking about. You know, we're talking about racism
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We're talking about prejudices. We're talking about betrayal. We're talking about jealousy
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These are very hard topics, misogyny, you know? And so how do we make that that's palatable for everybody to
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to digest in today's world. I mean, it's different times. So I think we have done that
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And so it's been really, it's been a pleasure for me to watch that come to life
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in the way that we have throughout the rehearsal process. Young audiences are coming to the theater for the very first time
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Yes. That must make you feel great as an artist. Yes, of course. Because who doesn't want to see Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhall
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do an iconic Shakespeare play on Broadway, you know? So it's amazing
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I think people who love Shakespeare are going to love this play. I think people who don't know Shakespeare as well are also going to love it
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It's exciting. It's alive. It's sexy. It's violent. It's, yeah, it's an incredible show
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