Bradley Whitford Passes the Torch to Tom Blyth in Broadway’s A Few Good Men

The case of A Few Good Men is reopened. Aaron Sorkin’s military courtroom drama opened October 29 at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater, starring Tom Blyth, Bradley Whitford and Krysta Rodriguez. Broadway.com spoke to the stars, playwright and Tony-winning director Michael Arden on the red carpet about the play’s Broadway beginnings, changes to the script and what questions it raises for a modern audience.

Sorkin, just 28 when A Few Good Men first opened on Broadway, celebrated the revival's opening night with a new company. “This is a fantastic cast of 21 actors. And not just the leads—who are giving thunderous performances in this play—all 21 of them,” he says. “There are [seven] actors in the play who are making their Broadway debuts, which is really exciting. But they are fiercely dedicated to the play and you can see that in their performance.”

Watching Blyth take on Daniel Kaffee has particular resonance for Whitford, who stepped into the role during the original run. “I really feel like playing Kaffee made me a much better actor, because it was the first time [I was on Broadway],” he says. “I see Tom realizing, ‘Oh, yeah, I can hold an audience and I can make them laugh and I can make them cry and I can make 2.5 hours feel like 10 minutes to them.’ And it's really fun to watch him do that.”

The discoveries extend to the script, which Sorkin workshopped for this production. “Aaron always plays around,” Whitford says. “We were doing some press for this recently and I pitched a line to him and he's like, ‘Yeah, put it in.’ So he's always ready to go back. He never feels like he's done.” For Blyth, working directly with Sorkin was part of the appeal. “Getting the opportunity to read the script as he's rewriting it and have him in the room giving his notes and emailing back and forth with him about some ideas, and him being gracious enough to actually give a care as to what I think, it was a surreal moment.”

Beyond the collaboration, Blyth's goal is for the play’s questions to follow audiences out of the theater. “I hope after they've had a laugh and a cry that they get to think about what it means to be strong,” he says. “I think that's the main question being asked: 'What is strength, and what is empathy, and can those two things go together? Are they mutually exclusive?' I don't think they are, but the crux of the play is, 'Can you be strong and empathetic at the same time?' Which I think is a big question of our time.”

Hear more from the cast and creatives in the video below!

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