Adrien Brody in his Broadway debut tells the true story of a man who spent more than two decades on Death Row for a murder he did not commit. Lindsey Ferrentino’s play is also the story of a jailhouse romance, featuring Tessa Thompson, also making her Broadway debut; it is something of an adventure story as well, and the story of the modern miracle of DNA testing, and of the cruelty of prison life and the incompetence of the criminal justice system. But, above all, “The Fear of 13” is a story about a storyteller.
“The more ludicrous your stories are, the more I find out they’re true,” Thompson as Jacki Miles, a prison volunteer, says to Brody as Nick Yarris in the play, which opened tonight at the James Earl Jones Theater. Yarris is the real-life Pennsylvanian who singlehandedly narrated his vivid, suspenseful, infuriating, sometimes ironic and altogether compelling life story in a 2015 documentary by British filmmaker David Singleton that was also entitled “The Fear of 13.”
Under the direction of David Cromer, the theatrical production expands the one-man movie with a 12-member cast portraying dozens of characters, with dark and fluid staging, and a theatrical flair that even includes some gospel singing (led, no less, by Tony nominee Ephraim Sykes.) But the focus largely stays on Nick. How could it be otherwise, given Adrien Brody’s skill in embodying the storyteller’s gifts of passion, precision, and charm? Brody has won two Oscars for portraying intense characters of great resilience and endurance in the face of unimaginable brutality — Polish pianist Władysław Szpilman in The Pianist (2002) and as Hungarian architect László Tóth in The Brutalist (2024). But he has also exhibited a dry sense of humor in a series of Wes Anderson’s quirky comedies. He brings all this to bear in a performance that goes beyond the thrill of seeing a movie star’s first time on stage.
Lindsey Ferrentino’s only previous Broadway credit is the book for the Queen of Versailles, but she has an impressive track record Off-Broadway of compassionate play on difficult subjects: Ugly Lies the Bone, a blunt, honest look at the challenges facing a severely injured veteran, and Amy and the Orphans, a story about, and starring, a woman with autism. Her script for “The Fear of 13” is an adept and largely faithful adaptation of the film, both of which employ artfully strategic storytelling. One difference is that both Nick and Jacki serves as narrators, even as many of the stories are also dramatized. An extended story about his month-long prison break breaks us out of the prison too, taking us to exotic locales, such as a pawnshop in Florida.
Another difference is small but nagging. The film overtly explains the title. In prison, Yarris became an auto-didact, reading a thousand books in three years, and learning up to fifty new words a day by using the words in many different sentences. In the film, he offers as an example of a word he learned: Triskaidekaphobia, the fear of the number 13. That’s not in the play. The word Nick offers as an example is: incredulous.
”That’s a good word for me. The state of being unwilling to believe,” Nick says.
“Are you incredulous?” Jacki asks.
“Wouldn’t you be? I just intend to speak eloquently when they give me my last words. I don’t want to die in ignorance.”
Perhaps the most stunning example of the strategic storytelling in both film and play is that it’s not until about halfway through the story that we learn that Nick is in fact innocent of the crime for which he has been sentenced to death. He apparently sees it as irrelevant until he himself learns of the then-new science of DNA testing, which could prove his innocence.
By this point, Jacki and Nick have already developed feelings for one another. Indeed, he announces his innocence to her as the first of two revelations; the second: “I’m falling in love with you.”
“Let’s handle the first one, first,” Jacki responds.
(It seems fair to say that that is the priority of the production as well. The flirtatious and heartfelt scenes between Brody and Thompson have a certain allure but feel more obligatory than essential.)
Much of the second half of the play chronicles the exasperating incompetence and corruption of his treatment from the get-go. He was convicted based on absolutely no evidence whatsoever – no physical evidence, no witnesses, no confession. Indeed, ironically, it was partially based on his skills as a storyteller. As a 20-year-old drug addict and car thief, he had a drug-fueled, inadvertent altercation with a police officer that resulted in serious charges. In order to get out of jail time, he tried to spin a tale that he had information about the recent murder in the area – which made him the prime suspect. It’s bracing to keep in mind that this is a true story.
The Fear of 13
James Earl Jones Theater through July 12, 2026
Running time:One hour and 50 minutes with no intermission
Tickets: $58 – $447. Digital lottery and rush: $45 (Broadway Rush and Lottery Policies)
Written by Lindsey Ferrentino; Based on the documentary directed by David Sington; Music arranged by Bryan Carter
Directed by David Cromer
Scenic Design by Arnulfo Maldonado; Costume Design by Sarah Laux; Lighting Design by Heather Gilbert; Sound Design by Lee Kinney; Hair and Wig Design by Robert Pickens and Katie Gell; Make-Up Design by Robert Pickens and Katie Gell
Cast: Adrien Brody as Nick Yarris, Tessa Thompson as Jacki Miles, Ephraim Sykes as Wesley and others, Michael Cavinder as Butch and others, Eddie Cooper as Judge Giles and others, Victor Cruz as Beau Mullin and others, Eboni Flowers, Joel Marsh Garland as Guard, Jared Wayne Gladly, Joe Joseph, Jeb Kreager as Lieutenant Walker and others and Ben Thompson
