Stereophonic Is Now Playing at The National Theatre - And the Hype Is Real

The most Tony-nominated play in history has arrived in Washington, D.C., and it more than lives up to its extraordinary reputation. Stereophonic, which earned a staggering 13 Tony Award nominations and took home five wins in 2024 including Best Play, is now on stage at The National Theatre through March 1, 2026. Written by David Adjmi, directed by Daniel Aukin, and featuring original music by Arcade Fire's Will Butler, this is a theatrical experience unlike anything else touring the country right now.

Stereophonic at The National Theatre

Set in a recording studio in Sausalito, California in 1976, Stereophonic follows an unnamed British-American rock band as they hunker down to record their second album just as they find themselves teetering on the cusp of superstardom. The ensuing pressures threaten to either seal their legacy or splinter them beyond repair. But this isn't a glamorized greatest-hits sprint through an era of bell-bottoms and backstage brawls. Instead, the play plants you directly inside the studio and makes you feel like a fly on the wall — watching the takes, the retakes, the arguments over tempo and tone, and the side-eyes from behind the soundboard. While parallels to real-life bands like Fleetwood Mac are unmistakable, these characters and their story are entirely fictional, and the drama that unfolds between them is riveting in its own right.

What makes Stereophonic so remarkable is its commitment to staying stubbornly, brilliantly still. There are no arena tours or montages of fame here. The focus is turned inward, toward the messy, magical, sometimes maddening process of artistic creation. You overhear the in-between moments that usually go untold: the hesitation before a take, the wordless eye contact between bandmates, the cigarette-break confessions that feel almost more revealing than the songs themselves. Director Daniel Aukin stages the play with a documentary-like quality while infusing it with a spontaneous, pulse-like energy that could only exist on a live stage. His use of silence is particularly striking — long, deliberate pauses that push past awkward and into something deeply evocative, making both the audience and the characters squirm in ways that feel startlingly real.

The production's technical elements have drawn universal praise. David Zinn's scenic design is a meticulous recreation of a 1970s recording studio that practically becomes its own character — a split-level wonder of wood-paneled walls, worn-in couches, and a fully enclosed glass sound booth. The set confines the band members within its walls like a pressure cooker, amplifying every tension. Sound designer Ryan Rumery's work is nothing short of wizardry. The way sound pulls from inside the glass recording box, through the microphones, and out to the audience — then draws back inward when the band gathers to listen to playback — creates a wholly immersive aural experience. You can practically feel the hiss of analog tape and the muffled thud of drums bleeding through a wall. Jiyoun Chang's lighting design casts everything in a warm, burnished glow that evokes the passage of time across both hours and seasons, while Enver Chakartash's costumes capture the era's effortless style with bright colors, bold patterns, and just the right amount of rock-and-roll edge.

At the heart of Stereophonic are the relationships — romantic, creative, and combustible. Denver Milord plays Peter, the band's controlling guitarist and singer who tries to manage everyone while grappling with his own considerable issues. Claire DeJean's Diana is a singer with breathtaking vocal ability and serious star power who chafes against Peter's attempts to diminish her role. Their volatile dynamic as both bandmates and lovers steers much of the play's conflict, and the moments when creative brilliance collides with personal resentment are electrifying. Emilie Kouatchou brings warmth and breezy charm to Holly, the keyboardist and vocalist navigating the slow collapse of her marriage to bassist Reg, played by Christopher Mowod. Cornelius McMoyler's Simon is the peacemaker drummer trying to hold the band together while his own family remains an ocean away in England. The vocal performances of both DeJean and Kouatchou are consistently singled out as worth the price of admission on their own.

The two sound engineers provide a brilliant counterbalance to the band's chaos. Jack Barrett's Grover is the audience's surrogate — a young engineer who lied about working with The Eagles and approaches the band's escalating dysfunction with a mix of professionalism and wide-eyed wonder. Steven Lee Johnson's Charlie, who claims to be cousins with a Doobie Brother, rounds out the ensemble. Their scenes together are laced with humor that provides welcome relief without ever undercutting the emotional stakes. The final moment of the play, with Grover alone at the audio console blending and mixing as the lights cut, lands with a resonance that lingers long after you leave the theatre.

When the band plays together, the effect is extraordinary. Will Butler's original songs feel authentic to the era and powerful in their own right, and the cast performs them live with genuine musicianship. The audience response during these musical moments is electric — but what makes Stereophonic truly special is the way those highs are immediately complicated by the human messiness surrounding them. A gorgeous vocal performance gives way to a bitter argument. A breakthrough recording session dissolves into recrimination. It's this constant tension between the beauty of what the band creates together and the ugliness of what they do to each other that gives the play its raw, unforgettable power.

Stereophonic is playing at The National Theatre through March 1, 2026. In an era overflowing with jukebox musicals and biographical concert shows, this is something refreshingly, thrillingly different — a play about music that is really a play about the complicated, imperfect humans who make it. Don't miss it.