"The story told in Dog Day Afternoon, the classic 1975 film about a real-life 1972 Brooklyn bank heist, is also the story of Stephen Adly Guirgis's confounding new Broadway play, where the heat never rises past lukewarm."
"What gave the original crime an extra frisson of sensationalism was that the would-be robbers, John Wojtowicz and Sal Naturile, were known in the local gay community; Wojtowicz was planning to use the money to finance a sex-change operation for his lover."
"The New York grit of the film holds up well half a century later, which is surely what drew Guirgis to the material; he has built his name on such wide-angle tales of Gotham City."
Stephen Adly Guirgis's Broadway play, inspired by the 1975 film Dog Day Afternoon, depicts a poorly planned bank heist that spirals into chaos. The characters, reminiscent of the original robbers, make critical errors and panic, leading to a hostage situation. The play lacks the gripping tension of the film, which was based on a real-life robbery involving John Wojtowicz and Sal Naturile. The original story's sensationalism stemmed from Wojtowicz's motive to finance a sex-change operation for his lover, adding depth to the narrative that the play fails to replicate.
Read at Time Out New York
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