‘Appalling’ Broadway adaptation of Oscar-winning film savaged by critics

• A stage adaptation of Sidney Lumet's 1975 Oscar-winning film Dog Day Afternoon opened on Broadway on Monday night to overwhelmingly negative reviews.
• Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis penned the adaptation, starring Jon Bernthal as Sonny and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Sal.
• Critics widely condemned Guirgis's interpretation for transforming the film's electric suspense into slapstick comedy, with one reviewer calling it an “appalling near-disaster”.
• Reviewers highlighted a significant lack of threat in the production, despite its bank robbery premise, and a tendency to mock the characters.
• Reports of tensions between Guirgis and producers emerged, with critics suggesting the 'undercooked staging' reflected an 'unresolved artistic dispute'.

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Dog Day Afternoon’s Broadway adaptation starring Jon Bernthal labeled ‘disastrous’ in savage reviews