Synopsis
From the St Ann’s Warehouse website:
“In 1921, Anna Christie, a reformed prostitute, walks into a saloon on South Street and snaps one of the great lines in theater history: “Gimme a whiskey—ginger ale on the side. And don’t be stingy, baby.” With that entrance, Eugene O’Neill cracks open a new age of modern drama.
In this new production, directed by Tony Award winner Thomas Kail (Hamilton), Emmy Award winner and five-time Oscar nominee Michelle Williams takes on one of the boldest roles in the American canon. Tony Award nominees Tom Sturridge joins the cast as Mat Burke, Anna’s lover; and Brian d’Arcy James as Chris Christopherson, coal barge captain and Anna’s father.
The creative team includes movement by Steven Hoggett, music by Nicholas Britell, set design by Christine Jones and Brett Banakis, costume design by Paul Tazewell, lighting design by Natasha Katz, and sound design by Nevin Steinberg.”
Performances: 25 November 2025 to 1 February 2026
Interviews & Articles
“An Under-Seen Eugene O’Neill Drama Gets Its Day in Brooklyn—With Star Power to Spare” – Vogue
“Michelle Williams-Led Anna Christie Begins Off-Broadway at St. Ann’s Warehouse November 25” – Playbill
All Of It with Alison Stewart – interview with Brian d’Arcy James, Thomas Kail, and Mare Winningham – Podcast
Reviews
“On her identity search, she seeks refuge with her estranged father, Chris Christopherson, a barge captain in Brooklyn. “Old Chris” is played marvelously by Brian d’Arcy James, who is endearing, kind, and a very believable drunk onstage. Tom Sturridge, as Mat Burke, the rough-and-tumble stoker Anna falls for, matches that realism. He offers up a feral performance when Mat is in a violent, drunken stupor.”
New York Theatre Guide
Playbill’s My Life in the Theatre
On 2 December 2025 Playbill released an interview with Brian on Youtube under their My Life in the Theatre playlist. Below is a transcript from the video about Anna Christie – you can watch it here. The video was recorded before the show opened.
“But kids, there’s more! So here we are at Anna Christie, a show I haven’t done yet. I have no memories of this play. I only have expectation, and the natural fear and anxiety that comes with trying to figure out what is gonna happen, and how do you do it. This is kind of what you see here, this really cool beard that I’m rocking, is in part trying to kind of get a sense of who Chris Christopherson, the character that I play in Anna Christie, is, who is a Swedish barge captain. I think this says Swedish barge captain, don’t you?
Here’s the thing. It a Eugene O’Neill play. I’m going to be doing a Eugene O’Neill play in New York City starring Michelle Williams and directed by Tommy Kail, a person who I adore and revere, and have had the chance to work with before.
There’s a lot to explore with this play. And I’m just starting to kind of sift through it, and I’ve been living with it for a bit in terms of the preparation that I’m doing. I just got back from Sweden, actually. I took a little trip to Sweden to Stockholm to kind of get a sense of the language. O’Neill writes this particular character with phonetically, a dialect that, you know, that hopefully will be executed in a way that doesn’t offend any Swedish person. It’s an interesting thing to try to tackle. I’ve done an Irish accent before that’s a little closer to who I am kind of, um, in my DNA. This is going to be a different thing altogether. So it’s going to be, um, I think it’s going to be an extraordinary experience. I’m really looking forward to it. And it’s going to be at St. Anne’s warehouse from November 25th to February 1st. Get your tickets now.”