Before it was an Oscar-nominated drama starring Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon, and Jack Nicholson, A Few Good Men premiered on Broadway in 1989, helping to launch the career of its playwright, a 20-something Aaron Sorkin, into the stratosphere. Now, nearly four decades later, the work has returned to the Main Stem, directed by six-time Tony Award winner Michael Arden.
The work—a thrilling study of military honor, institutional might, and a dauntless pursuit of the truth—is now brought to life by Tom Blyth, who makes his Broadway debut as Daniel Kaffee, the brash Navy lawyer portrayed by Cruise onscreen. Initially more interested in negotiating a convenient settlement than fighting for justice, Kaffee finds himself drawn into a trial involving two young Marines accused of killing a fellow serviceman after carrying out an illegal order. In so doing, he gets to know the darker side of the Corps.
For Blyth, who broke out on film in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, the play pushed him into new territory. “I’m excited. My whole career so far has been about testing myself and trying to do things I’ve not done yet,” the Juilliard-trained British actor told Vogue on the red carpet. “To be totally transparent, the first couple of weeks were terrifying, but I’ve learned that if I mess up, I’ve got to keep going. Quite literally, the show must go on. It’s the most invigorating way to act, and it makes you a better screen actor as well. If you can do this, you’re infinitely better on screen.”
As for how he’s managed to put Cruise’s charismatic interpretation of the role out of his mind, Blyth has developed a playful pre-show ritual. “I walk into the house every night just before it opens and I say, ‘This is my fucking house!’” he said with a laugh. “I have to do Jedi mind tricks like that to remind myself that this is mine, and nobody else’s.”
