I can see three main reasons why some theatergoers might want to sympathize with the antisemite at the center of the incendiary true incident being dramatized in  “Giant.” The man, for one, is Roald Dahl, the children’s book author whose titles (including “Matilda” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”) many have read and loved since childhood. Dahl is being portrayed in another virtuoso performance by John Lithgow, the fine eighty-year-old actor who has been able to locate the humanity in such insufferable villains as the Trinity Killer in Dexter, Lord Farquaad in Shrek and Roger Ailes in Bombshell. Then, some might agree with Dahl’s criticism of Israel, which he made four decades ago, but that is even more commonly heard in March of 2026  — that Israel has exhibited “appalling behavior” and exerted “powerful influence over the US treasury [and] over the presidency.”

But it becomes harder to muster up much sympathy when such lines of dialogue about Israel, imagined by “Giant” playwright Mark Rosenblatt, bump up against lines about Jews taken verbatim from Dahl’s writings and interviews,  which get increasingly explicit: “There is a trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity…  even a stinker like Hitler didn’t just pick on them for no reason.”   The more “Giant” reveals about Dahl’s antisemitism, the more ambivalent I felt about the play.

“Giant” begins as a kind of drawing room comedy, although the drawing room is in turmoil, both literally and emotionally. Dahl’s home (called Gipsy House) is being renovated under the supervision of his fiancée Felicity “Liccy” Crosland (Rachael Stirling.)  Dahl also has written a book review excoriating the Israeli army’s actions in Lebannon in 1982, which has caused a backlash that worries his publishers.  At the start, his British publisher Tom Maschler (Elliot Levey) is at the dining room table with Dahl as the author looks over proofs of his latest book, “The Witches,” which gives Lithgow an opportunity to establish Dahl’s irascibility and his sharp wit.  Eventually they are joined by a representative of his American publisher, Jessie Stone (Aya Cash), who tells Dahl she has been a fan for ages, and it’s an honor to meet him, which he ridicules.

“No really,” she protests good-humoredly. “I was raised on your work, Mr Dahl.”
“You ate my books?”
“I devoured them.”

He grills her – about, among other things, her position on Israel, and her Jewish faith.

It’s nearly a half an hour into the play before the publishers bring up the issue of the review. They make clear they are there for crisis management; they feel that the antisemitism in the review will affect sales of the new book – the American Library Association might not recommend it; Jessie tells him that an influential independent bookseller, a Holocaust survivor, told her he would no longer be carrying any of his books. The publishers say that he needs to respond. Tom suggests an interview with a friendly feature writer, in which he briefly says something “conciliatory. “
“I don’t want to be conciliatory.”

But Jessie disagrees with Tom, doesn’t feel that would be enough.  There is an interesting tension here. Tom is also Jewish, and indeed a Holocaust survivor, although he doesn’t see it that way. (“I was a boy. I got on a fucking train.”)

In any case, Dahl doesn’t budge. “It’s a big fat pig of a no,” he says.

Eventually, Jessie loses her cool, and, in what’s the heart and the fire of the play, reads passages from Dahl actual review (Not A Chivalrous Affair, a review of the book “God Cried”)  and methodically if angrily explains why it is not just critical of Israel but outright antisemitic. (eg “an entire race of people is being blamed for the actions of the Israeli army. What happened in Beirut, Mr Dahl, pains many Jews. Many.”) Cash gives a bravura performance; her character’s impassioned argument, which ends Act I, gets rousing applause.

 I wondered: Is there anybody here at Music Box Theater who needs to be convinced that Jews are not collectively to be blamed for the actions of the Israeli government, and if so, will this play be enough to convince them?

“Giant,” given a first-rate production by Tony winning director Nicholas Hytner (War Horse, The History Boys, Carousel), is, remarkably, Mark Rosenblatt’s playwriting debut, although he has been a director for two decades. He has a great ear for dialogue, and a fine-tuned sense of the complexity of character, which all six actors persuasively portray.  “Giant” is too narrowly focused to be a portrait of Dahl, nor deep enough to be an analysis of why somebody is antisemitic (if such an analysis is possible), nor (given Dahl’s bigotry) a fair debate about Israel. But Rosenblatt is a brave and intelligent playwright taking on a subject that no one else seems willing to touch.  

Giant
Music Box Theater through June 27
Running time: Two hours and 15 minutes including an intermission.
Tickets: $79 – $450. Rush $45, Lottery $49 (See Broadway Rush and Lottery Policies)
Written by Mark Rosenblatt
Directed by Nicholas Hytner
Scenic and costume design by Bob Crowley, lighting design by Anna Watson, sound design by Darron L West, wig, hair and makeup design by Luc Vershueren for Campbell Young Associates, dialect coach Andrew Wade
Cast: John Lithgow as Roald Dahl, Aya Cash as Jessie Stone,  Elliot Levey as Tom Maschler,  Rachael Stirling as Felicity Liccy Crosland, Stella Everett as Hallie and switchboard voice, David Manis as Wally and voice of Max Coren