Equus (Broadhurst, 235 W. 44, closes Feb. 8). A masterpiece it’s not, but Peter Shaffer’s 1973 play about a mentally disturbed stableboy and the psychatrist who has second thoughts about curing him is a spectacular piece of theater-for-its-own-sake, impressive enough that it’s easy to overlook the creakiness of the play’s intellectual underpinnings. This is the first Broadway revival of Equus, for which Daniel Radcliffe presumably deserves credit. Not surprisingly, the presence of Harry Potter in the cast has captured the imagination of the mass media–especially since he strips to the buff and runs around the stage in the next-to-last scene–but Radcliffe turns out to be a damned fine actor, while Richard Griffiths, lately of The History Boys, is as good as it gets (TT).
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
