Succession Meets The Sopranos as Jeremy Strong and Michael Imperioli Duke It Out on Broadway Over a 140-Year-Old Play
Jeremy Strong and Michael Imperioli are battling it out in the Broadway revival of a Norwegian play
Succession fame Jeremy Strong has joined forces with The Sopranos star Michael Imperioli in a new Broadway project. Former Yale student Strong mostly appeared as an actor in stage plays. His breakthrough role did not come until 2018 when he starred as the middle son Kendall Roy in the comedy-drama TV series Succession.
On the other hand, Imperioli has been in the entertainment industry for much longer than Strong. Although he has worked with legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese, he is best known for his role as Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos. Fans of these shows seem to have won as they feast their eyes on these actors in the Broadway revival of a 140-year-old play.
Jeremy Strong Stars Alongside Michael Imperioli in the Broadway Revival of An Enemy of The People
An Enemy of the People is a play, originally written in 1882 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, follows the conflict between a man Dr. Thomas Stockmann, who understands science, and his brother Peter Stockmann, who is a pragmatic politician. While Jeremy Strong portrays the good-willed doctor, Michael Imperioli portrays his brother Peter.
An adaptation of this play, written by Tony Award nominee Amy Herzog and directed by Tony Award winner Sam Gold, premiered on Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theatre in New York on March 18. Besides Strong and Imperioli, the cast also includes Victoria Pedretti (The Haunting) and Matthew August Jeffers (The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live) (via Playbill).
In the play, set in a 19th-century Norwegian town, Dr. Thomas’s suspicions regarding the bacterial contamination of the spa bath resorts are confirmed and he wants to shut it down, which could help prevent illness and subsequent death.
However, his attempts at letting the public know this are opposed by his brother Peter, who also happens to be the town’s mayor and does not want the baths to shut down as it was expensive to build and attracts tourists, which is good for business.
Jeremy Strong’s Views on An Enemy of the People
Last November (via Broadway Buzz), Jeremy Strong admitted that he read the play for the first time soon after he got done with the HBO series Succession. An Enemy of the People is Strong’s first project since he got off the series.
The Big Short star made his Broadway debut in 2008 with A Man for All Seasons and returned to Broadway with this Norwegian play. In a press event for the play, Strong reflected on his character, saying (via Broadway Buzz):
“I’ve heard it described as a man confronting the necessity of action at the same time as the impossibility of action. And I thought that that was an incredible dilemma and engine for a play.”
Strong also said that the play covers many issues that the public is currently living through, including the climate crisis.
An Enemy of the People is currently playing at a Circle in the Square Theatre in New York.