Review Roundup: Jean Smart Shines in Call Me Izzy
Kevin, June 13th, 2025Jean Smart is back on Broadway!
Six-time Emmy winner and Tony nominee Jean Smart shines in this fiercely personal story of a writer grappling with the weight of her words and the secrets they carry. Call Me Izzy is Broadway's brightest new star, written by Jamie Wax and Directed by Sarna Lapine - it is the story of a woman who refuses to be silenced. But what did the critics think of this limited-run Broadway event at Studio 54?
Critic Reviews of Call Me Izzy
"Returning to Broadway after 25 years in "Call Me Izzy," which opened Thursday at Studio 54, Jean Smart crushes it in the good way." - The New York Times
"The first production of the new Broadway season, Call Me Izzy blesses 2025-2026 with a terrific beginning. One only hopes Tony voters have very, very long memories." - Deadline
"These swerves of impulses could easily go off the tracks but the combination of the steady direction of Sarna Lapine ("Sunday in the Park With George") and Smart's riveting performance make Izzy's world real and her conflicts believable." - Variety
"So, it all comes down to her, and Smart delivers the kind of once-in-a-lifetime performance that lingers long after the play ends. So raw, so shattering, the distance is vast between Izzy and the characters Smart is best known for playing." - Theatermania
"Fresh off the success of the fourth season of Hacks, Jean Smart is vibrant, tough, and matter-of-factly, darkly funny as Izzy in a way that has the audience alternating laughs and gasps of horror in seconds." - New York Theatre Guide
"Smart, returning to Broadway after some 25 years, brings astonishing clarity and depth to the part. Spinning an enticing yarn from shopworn material the action is set in 1989, when it may have struck a modern tone she delivers a performance that feels deceptively featherlight while demonstrating total command." - Washington Post
"Incidentally, Call Me Izzy is the first production of the 2025-6 Broadway season, which makes Smart the first candidate for the new season's Best Actress Tony nomination. It's imperative she not be forgotten." - New York Stage Review
