Manhattan Theatre Club brings Tracy Letts' cult sci-fi thriller Bug to Broadway for the first time, with Tony Award winner David Cromer directing Steppenwolf's production. The show stars Carrie Coon as Agnes White, a lonely waitress whose tentative connection with a stranger ignites the play's unsettling spiral, alongside Namir Smallwood as Peter Evans.

Set in a rundown Oklahoma motel room, Bug begins as an intense and fragile romance between two damaged souls, before curdling into something far more disturbing in Letts' provocative, sexually charged thriller. 

Here's what critics are saying about the Broadway premiere.

Bug Reviews

"This new Manhattan Theater Club production, which opened Thursday at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater, is more tender and balanced, with Namir Smallwood rendering Peter as a gentler, less alien figure. The focus has shifted to his romantic partner, Agnes (Coon), a desperate sad sack haunted by a loss in her past. In a superb performance, Coon provides the alpha energy this time, her eruptive anger masking an inner conflict worn on her weary face. The director David Cromer still delivers effective jolts, yet his production feels disturbingly closer to home." - The New York Times

"Carrie Coon is unleashed from her corsetsand every other stitch of clothingin the blistering Broadway revival of her husband Tracy Letts's macabre thriller "Bug," being presented by Manhattan Theatre Club roughly 20 years after it was first seen in New York off-Broadway. (Due to the prevalence of nudity, audiences must turn off their phones and have them put in secure pouches for the show's duration.)" - The Wall Street Journal

""Bug" is as intimate as it is intense. The set, designed by Takeshi Kata, drops the audience right into this specific place and time. The lightning, helmed by Heather Gilbert, and the sound, spearheaded by Josh Schmidt, also keep the play tightly grounded, though the production may have worked even better in a smaller theater. Additionally, midway through Act II, there is a shocking set change that reveals just how deep into their psychosis Agnes and Peter have sunk. Moreover, amid Agnes and Peter's continued descent toward insanity, the story remains convincing because of the characters' obvious affection and mutual obsession. It's pretty apparent they are causing each other immense harm. However, their actions stem from a place of love, companionship, humor and understanding, which makes the tale especially heartbreaking." - Variety

"Although Agnes and Peter sleep together early on, their relationship isn't primarily sexual. But there's an element of seduction to their whole dynamic, as Peter, at first reluctantly, gets under Agnes's skin. Letts is an actor as well as a playwrighthe and Coon, who are married, met while co-starring in a revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?and he knows how to craft scenes that keep performers intensely engaged with each other onstage. Smallwood and Coon, reprising their roles from the 2021 production of Bug at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, strike a compelling balance. He arrives full of secrets that he gradually reveals; she arrives empty and eager to swallow them up, spiraling ever farther away from life beyond her room. (In several ways, this role is like the flip side of the steadfast mother Coon played so indelibly in Mary Jane.)" - Time Out New York

"Here, there's a skin-crawling effect to watching the story unfold onstage. The Broadway production capitalizes on discomfort, keeping tension taut and surprises around every corner." - Entertainment Weekly

"While fascinating in its ambition, pretty early the momentum of the play stalls, and Bug becomes an arduous descent into loud shouting and, ultimately, no answers. Coon and Smallwood's performances navigating this nightmare slalom are electric. The play, prophetically prescient as it may be, is not." - The Daily Beast

"When Bug was first seen Off-Broadway in 2004, it seemed prescient in its portrayal of mental illness and conspiracy theories. Now after the world has gone collectively crazy with wacky notions about COVID, pedophile rings, vaccines, and 5G, among countless other things Tracy Letts' play practically feels quaint. Receiving its Broadway premiere in a Manhattan Theatre Club production in association with Steppenwolf Theatre Company, it nonetheless remains a grippingly unnerving thriller that feels like a waking nightmare." - New York Stage Review