Richard Schiff and Michael Aronov Join Broadway's Awake and Sing!

Richard Schiff and Michael Aronov will join the Broadway revival of Clifford Odets's Awake and Sing!, completing the cast for a production that begins performances on December 15 at Manhattan Theatre Club's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Opening night is set for January 7, 2027.

Tyne Rafaeli directs the revival. The production marks the first full staging of the Odets classic at MTC's flagship house in this announced season lineup, and it now has its Berger household fully staffed — plus the men orbiting it.

Who has joined the cast?

The newly announced members are:

• Michael Aronov, a Tony winner, as Moe Axelrod
• Benjamin Pelteson as Sam Feinschreiber, making his Broadway debut
• Richard Schiff, an Emmy winner, as Jacob Berger
• Stephen Schnetzer as Schlosser

They join a previously announced company of six:

• Danny Burstein, a Tony winner, as Uncle Morty
• Micaela Diamond as Hennie Berger
• Jessica Hecht as Bessie Berger
• Will Pullen as Ralph Berger
• Jeremy Shamos as Myron Berger

That is ten names for one Bronx apartment, which is about right for Odets. The 1935 play crams three generations of the Berger family into cramped quarters and lets them argue about money, politics and the point of it all.

What do the newcomers bring?

Aronov made his Broadway debut in Golden Boy and later won his Tony for Oslo. Schiff won his Emmy for The West Wing and made his Broadway debut in Glengarry Glen Ross — a play that, like Odets, trades in desperate men and sharper dialogue. Schnetzer's Broadway résumé runs long: Prayer for the French Republic, The Waverly Gallery, Oslo, The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, A Talent for Murder, Wit, The Incomparable Max and Filumena.

Pelteson is the unknown quantity here, and revivals tend to like those. A debut inside an ensemble of award winners is either a gift or a trial by fire. Opening night will settle it.

Schiff has already hinted to Broadway.com at his return to the stage, signaling that the stage-to-screen actor is circling back to theater where his career's stage credits began. The full remarks weren't available at press time, but the tease itself suggests he's game.

Why this revival matters now

Odets wrote Awake and Sing! during the Depression, and the play has never really stopped being timely — economic anxiety, family friction, and the young straining against the old. Rafaeli, whose credits lean toward sharp, intimate revivals, now has a cast with the hardware to deliver it: two Tonys, one Emmy, and a stage veteran in Schnetzer.

With performances starting December 15 and opening January 7, 2027, the Friedman Theatre gives Broadway its first look at this company in under a year. Tickets and full production details are available through Broadway.com.