The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window on Broadway Starring Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan Tickets

By: Lorraine Hansberry
Director: Anne Kauffman
Producer: Brooklyn Academy of Music
Cast list: Oscar Isaac (as Sidney Brustein), Rachel Brosnahan (as Iris Brustein), Gus Birney (as Gloria Parodus), Julian De Niro (as Alton Scales), Glenn Fitzgerald (as David Ragin), Andy Grotelueschen (as Wally O’Hara), Miriam Silverman (as Mavis Parodus Bryson), Raphael Nash Thompson (as Max)
Design: dots
Costumes: Brenda Abbandandolo
Lighting: John Torres
Sound: Bray Poor
Other info: Dramaturgy by Arminda Thomas, wig design by Leah Loukas, props by Andrew Diaz, vocal coaching by Kate Wilson

The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window had a short-lived Broadway premiere in 1964 and an even shorter revival in 1972. The 2023 revival has technically been in the works since 2004. David Binder, BAM's artistic director, produced the first Broadway revival of Hansberry's most famous work, A Raisin in the Sun, that year — a revival that made Tony winners of Audra McDonald and Phylicia Rashad. While involved with that show, he discovered Sidney Brustein and decided to produce that show someday, too.

Director Anne Kauffman finally brought Binder's vision to life in February 2023. She premiered this revival production, with a different cast, at Chicago's Goodman Theatre in 2016 to critical acclaim. Kauffman said of doing the show years later, "I don't think my approach has changed; I think the things that are accentuated have changed... It's like a fine piece of music — you're going to orchestrate it a little bit more with violins this time and add a little more trumpet the next time."

The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window off Broadway marked Brosnahan's first stage performance since 2016's Othello, in which she starred opposite Daniel Craig and David Oyelowo. Previously, she made her Broadway debut in 2013's The Big Knife. She's best known, however, for playing the stand-up comic Midge in the hit TV series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which earned her an Emmy Award.

Isaac last graced the New York stage a bit more recently, in 2017's Hamlet at The Public Theater. His best-known credits include Show Me a Hero, which earned him a Golden Globe, along with the latest Star Wars trilogy, Scenes From a Marriage, and Marvel's Moon Knight. The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window on Broadway now marks Isaac's Broadway debut.

What to Watch For

• In 1964, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window was set to close on Broadway early, and celebrities including James Baldwin, Sammy Davis, and Paddy Chayefsky campaigned to save the show. A similar movement happened in 2022, with Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah, Tyler Perry, and more expressing support for the Broadway play Ain't No Mo'.
• The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window was the only other play besides A Raisin in the Sun to be produced during Hansberry's lifetime. She died on January 12, 1965; Sidney Brustein closed on January 10.
• The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window includes references to historical figures like political leader Fidel Castro, pioneer Daniel Boone, French novelist Jean Genet, and musician Joan Baez.
• There's also a reference to Willy Loman of Death of a Salesman, another great American play that was just revived on Broadway in fall 2022.
• The original Broadway production of Sidney Brustein starred Gabriel Dell and Rita Moreno.