It is the late 1950s and Mark Rothko, the famous Abstract Expressionist painter, is at a crossroads in his career. Intellectual, controlling and often bombastic, Rothko is at work on a surprising (and very well-paid) commission: a series of murals to hang at the Four Seasons restaurant in Midtown Manhattan’s Seagram’s Building. The play takes place in Rothko’s studio, where he works with the help of a smart, young assistant. The action follows the artist’s struggle for integrity and understanding in the face of fame, self-questioning and impending irrelevance. Will his paintings survive in a place that represents everything—greed, commercialism, bourgeois comfort—he detests?

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Here’s what the people have to say that have seen it:

” So intense. An electrifying play! Molina turns in a robust portrait of the artist as a man of fierce intelligence and ferocious drive. Redmayne is admirably cool and subtle.” — Marilyn Stasio

“Finally a truly intelligent play on Broadway! Red is a compelling example of how a thinking theater can simultaneously entertain and educate. Molina and Redmayne are superb.” — John Simon

“A fresh, exciting portrait of a brilliant mind. The dauntless Mr. Molina gives his strongest Broadway performance to date. Possessiveness and perplexity glitter in his eyes like a fever. Mr. Redmayne’s Ken has a spine and a mind of his own, and you can feel both growing stronger throughout the play. Mr. Grandage is a canny craftsman of the theater, and he makes sure that the play’s intellectual arguments are sensually grounded.” — Ben Brantley

More to come about this new play as more details emerge.

–Admiral Eo