WISH-LIST WEDNESDAY: Leopoldstadt

Official artwork/photography for "Leopoldstadt"

We are back after a brief hiatus, and to celebrate the life of the recently departed Tom Stoppard, I thought there was no better way than to showcase his final work in this series of "shows I've not seen but hope I do at some point". The final masterpiece of the late, great playwright and screenwriter, "Leopoldstadt" follows a Jewish family in Vienna from the turn of the 20th century until the mid 1950s, chronicling their trials and tribulations throughout this half century, including the first world war, annexation of Austria, and the Holocaust; the title Leopoldstadt comes from the name of the history Jewish quarter of Vienna.

The play had its world premiere at Wyndham's Theatre in the west end, featuring a huge cast of 41 performers, including a separate children's company, in one of the most ambitious straight plays to ever perform in the west end. The epic scale of it is a rarity for a straight play, in terms of the size of its cast, the design of its visual elements, and the considerable time period covered in the work's comparatively short 140-minute runtime. It was an overwhelming critical and commercial success, praised for its depiction of historical events, depth of emotion and character building, and how Stoppard used the late discovery of his own family history to explore his Jewish identity.

The original London production of "Leopoldstadt"

The immense universal acclaim heaped onto this final great Stoppardian work carried over to broadway, and in a production featuring Caissie Levy and Brandon Uranowicz (later to perform together in the 2024 NYCC revival of "Ragtime"), became the most successful play at the 76th Tony Awards, winning four in total, including for best play and best director of a play for Patrick Marber. It is clear that, with this deeply personal last work, Tom Stoppard has decidedly gone out in a blaze of glory, ending his theatrical career as he began it: with a palpable, career-defining hit. All I hope now is that eventually, with its original London run being cut short due to COVID-19, we will see it return to the stage again before too long.