'A Few Good Men' Broadway review — Aaron Sorkin's military drama returns to the stand

Read our review of A Few Good Men, the first revival of Aaron Sorkin's Broadway-debut play, starring Tom Blyth and Bradley Whitford at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.

Summary

• A Few Good Men follows a young military lawyer assigned to a case that reveals a deeper network of conspiracy within the Marines
• The play marked Aaron Sorkin's Broadway debut in 1989 but now feels somewhat dated in its first revival
• The revival features solid performances from the cast, led by Tom Blyth, Bradley Whitford, and Krysta Rodriguez
• The play is recommended for fans of the 1992 A Few Good Men movie and of Sorkin's works more broadly

We live in a polarized country, and Aaron Sorkin is a polarizing pop culture figure. His writing has always dealt in sincerity undercut by obstinance or faith hidden beneath a hard exterior; these sensibilities make his dialogue and characters predictable, though no less beloved than when The West Wing was winning Emmys by the truckload.

But Sorkin cut his teeth as a playwright first, making his Broadway debut in 1989 with A Few Good Men before adapting it into the movie starring Tom Cruise and directed by Rob Reiner. The military legal drama stares head-on at the ugly realities of our hypermasculine military and unflinching culture of obedience, but it also relies on the jaded-yet-hopeful good guy to swoop in and save the day. As Naval lawyer Daniel Kaffee in the current Broadway revival at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, Tom Blyth is a convincing hero, well-spoken and pretty, balancing his humor and his anger in equal measure. Neither Blyth’s performance nor Michael Arden’s lackadaisical direction, however, are enough to answer the age-old question: Why this play now?

The story goes that Sorkin wrote A Few Good Men after his sister, a young military lawyer, told him about a case she was working at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. A group of Marines were accused of a violent assault during a hazing incident ordered by superiors, though the real-life victim survived while the play’s victim, William Santiago (Daniel Velez), does not. (One of those former Marines, who allegedly hated A Few Good Men for implying that his conduct was dishonorable, was later murdered in a case that remains unsolved.) Enter Kaffee, who prides himself on plea bargains and is confident he can protect the accused — the arrogant Lieutenant Harold Dawson (Lavel Schley) and his befuddled Southern sidekick, Private Louden Downey (Collin Kelly-Sordelet) — from lengthy prison sentences. If only it weren’t for that meddling woman!

As the persistent Lieutenant Commander Joanne Galloway, Krysta Rodriguez at least has something to do. She is physical, traipsing up and down Dane Laffrey’s huge set and plucking her heels on and off every five minutes. She is alternately bombastically insistent and childishly indignant. Her lines, like the other characters', are dated, a little too dramatic for realism and a little too fatalistic for farce. Sorkin’s shtick has always been hokey and heartfelt, but he's also always tried very hard to make you think it’s laid-back. My audience was on the edge of their seats waiting for Bradley Whitford, giving a beefy bravado to the antagonistic Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Jessep, to screech “You can’t handle the truth!” But the monologue that follows is out of place, unrealistic, almost nonsensical. At least when the plucky young lawyer gets a witness to confess in Legally Blonde, the witness has the good sense to shut up after.

Perhaps the main problem with A Few Good Men is that it is distinctly Hollywood in a way that no longer translates to the stage. (Sorkin has incorporated some elements of his screenplay into the current version of the play.) We are asked to embrace quippy, old-fashioned misogyny while the play both interrogates and upholds the toxic masculinity of the Marines. When Sam Weinberg (Nick Blaemire), Kaffee’s peer assisting him on the case, insists that the “just following orders” excuse didn’t work at Nuremberg and won’t now, Kaffee emphatically rebuffs him, then retreats when he fears he’s too passionate. But neither line of thinking is more deeply probed in the play, which Dawson and Downey end believing they’ve done nothing wrong. Blaemire’s Weinberg portrays this final moment as heartbroken while Kaffee thanks the young men — who are being dishonorably discharged for murder — for their service.

Who were the few good men of Guantanamo Bay in 1989, and who are they 37 years later, when the torture and human rights abuses at the base’s military prison is common knowledge? Galloway and Kaffee part ways to go defend drunken soldiers making mistakes on the dime and time of the taxpayer. The individual bad actors are gone, but the system stands. Sorkin believes in a protagonist who can bring down a broken system from within it. A Few Good Men asks us not to let a few bad apples spoil the barrel. But is the barrel worth salvaging?

A Few Good Men summary

At the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, two U.S. Marines find themselves in hot water after murdering their fellow solider in a hazing ritual. Military defense lawyer Daniel Kaffee wants to set up a tidy plea bargain, but internal affairs lawyer Joanne Galloway doesn’t agree with Kaffee’s cut-and-dry approach. Determined to prove himself and bothered by details that just don’t add up, Kaffee uncovers a conspiracy and culture of hazing that could implicate Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Jessep, one of the most powerful Marines in the military.

A Few Good Men was the Broadway-debut play of Aaron Sorkin, who went on to adapt the show into an Oscar-nominated 1992 film.

What to expect at A Few Good Men

A Few Good Men runs approximately 2 hours and 35 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission. The play features discussions of murder, suicide, assault, hazing, and abuse, and characters use misogynistic and homophobic language.

As A Few Good Men takes place in part on a military base, the production features a variety of prop weaponry, with fight direction by Rick Sordelet and Christian Kelly-Sordelet. (The production is a family affair, with Collin Kelley-Sordelet playing Downey.)

Dane Laffrey’s set is a cavernous airplane hangar that serves as courtroom, prison, barracks, and more between Guantanamo Bay and Washington, D.C. Audience members sitting on the far sides of the Beaumont’s curved proscenium space may have slight sightline issues due to the large pillars of Laffrey’s industrial set; much of the courtroom action that makes up the second act is played front and center.

What audiences are saying about A Few Good Men

As of writing, A Few Good Men has an 84% audience approval rating, averaged from 51 reviews, on the online aggregator Show-Score. While some fans of the movie preferred the onscreen version of the story and performances, theatregoers who love Aaron Sorkin's writing were glad to see it unfold live.

• Mezzanine user John Conover said the play “loses a lot of its bite in 2026 and feels overwhelmingly quaint,” but praised the performances of Rodriguez, Whitford, and Blaemire.
• "As a longtime fan of the film, it was hard to separate my knowledge of the plot from what I was watching. My companion, who never saw the film, really liked the play. Unfortunately, I don't know that Arden's direction adds anything new or tries anything different, so the film edges this production out by a mile." - Show-Score user Ashowgoer
• Mezzanine user Morgan Lynch wrote that the play’s runtime is too long but praised the “impressive” scenic design by Dane Laffrey.
• Mezzanine user Max Baldi called the revival “timely and compelling” and said Sorkin’s “writing is as sharp as ever,” but said Whitford’s performance “end[s] with a whimper.”

Read more audience reviews of A Few Good Men on Show-Score.

Who should see A Few Good Men

• Bradley Whitford is an obvious draw as a recent Emmy Award nominee and former Sorkin-universe star of The West Wing — as well as a member of A Few Good Men's original Broadway cast (in a different role). The celebrated actor gives a performance outside his typical range as Jessep.
• Fans of the movie will be eager to compare performances from the Broadway revival to the film adaptation. The production is opening just a year shy of the death of the film’s beloved director, Rob Reiner, and his wife.
• Broadway favorite Krysta Rodriguez is the theatre-fan draw as Joanne Galloway, one of her first major non-musical roles.

Learn more about A Few Good Men on Broadway

A Few Good Men offers solid performances from the revival’s cast, with actors like John Zdrojeski inspiring true terror a lieutenant whose passionate evangelical recitations wouldn’t be out of place in today’s Hegsethian military. If only the rest of the production felt as up-to-date.

Learn more and get A Few Good Men tickets on New York Theatre Guide. A Few Good Men is at the Vivian Beaumont Theater through January 10.

Photo credit: A Few Good Men on Broadway. (Photos by Emilio Madrid)