It’s a rare, warm September day in Chicago when Robert (Don Cheadle) remembers that it is his daughter’s birthday in David Auburn’s Proof. Taking a break from his work, the mathematics professor offers to take Catherine (Ayo Edebiri) out for a celebratory dinner. But that was before Robert got lost in his work and before his death, leaving an equally brilliant but restless Catherine to solve the problems her father left behind.
On an unusually hot April day in New York City, guests gathered at the Booth Theatre for the opening night of Proof, the revival of the hit Tony- and Pulitzer Prize–winning play.
Starring Cheadle, Edebiri, Jin Ha, and Kara Young, the show (which was also adapted into a 2005 film with Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins, and Jake Gyllenhaal) follows Catherine as she grapples with the complexities of life and legacy upon discovering a revelatory proof after her brilliant but troubled father’s death.
Catherine and Robert’s relationship is complicated, but forming a natural family dynamic with the cast was easy for Cheadle.
“Being able to be on stage with all of these guys… we feel very fortunate to have this tight group to play with. We get to explore every night and try to figure out something new. And that’s really fun,” the House of Lies actor, who made his Broadway debut alongside Edebiri, told Vogue on the red carpet ahead of the show’s opening. “This play has a lot to offer in terms of legacy and family, mental health and depression, and truth versus fiction—and just the intrigue of all of those big themes. So whatever people take away from this, they take away.”
But the key to taking on an award-winning early-aughts revival? Making it your own.
“It has the feeling of working on a new play,” Edebiri, wearing a colorful, ruched Chanel midi dress, told Vogue. “It doesn’t feel like we’re doing a revival because we are interested in investigating things as if we’re the first people who have ever done this. I think everybody entered this with such an air of humility and investigation. So I just hope that I can continue to foster that spirit in myself and in future projects.”
For Ha, working on the revival has been a theater kid’s dream. “I had studied scenes from this play in school and scene study classes,” he recalled. “I never thought that I would have the opportunity to do a full production of it, let alone the revival on Broadway.”
The actor went on to discuss the significance of the revival’s diverse casting. “[The show] was originally written for white characters, and that’s the iteration I had seen growing up, but here we are, telling the same story—but also such a different story with the nuances that the casting creates. I couldn’t have hoped for a better version to be a part of it.”
Ha then took a minute to show off his look, created for him by Cats: The Jellicle Ball costume designer Qween Jean. The pale blue three-piece suit was adorned with a drop crystal fringe jacket and featured a mathematical equation waistcoat, topped off with a brooch depicting the famed woman-doing-math meme. (“I wanted her here tonight,” Ha said affectionately.)
Later, Young appeared on the carpet in a Barbie-pink Marc Jacobs halter dress with a yellow floral brooch. “I came into this process very late. I had five days of rehearsal, and then I went to tech,” the two-time Tony winner, who plays Catherine’s sister Claire, told Vogue. “But it’s always like that for every play that I’ve ever done. I’m going to continue to build history up until the last day—the last performance. Right now, I’m focused on honoring Claire as best as I possibly can. My mind is with her, not on the external pressures or expectations.”
Like the play, the theme of the night was family and supporting fellow actors within the community. About 20 minutes before curtain-up, the red carpet filled with celebrity guests, including Matt Damon, who came out to support Cheadle, his longtime friend and fellow Ocean’s 11 co-star, while Nicolas Braun appeared to support Young, his co-lead in last year’s Gruesome Playground Injuries.
There was also a lot of love for play director Tommy Kail, who attended opening night with his wife, Michelle Williams, who also brought her best friend, Busy Philipps.
“I’ve never seen the show, so I’m looking forward to seeing it tonight. And obviously, Tommy is like family to me at this point, so I always want to support him. I love him so much,” Philipps told Vogue.
Inside the theater, Lin-Manuel Miranda was spotted chatting with fellow opening-night guests, looking casual but cool in a white tee and slacks, while Whitney Peak made her way to her seat in a Proof baseball cap inscribed with the show’s famous line: “I wrote it.”
Then, onstage, Kail’s vision for the Auburn revival came to life, the cast’s chemistry adding up to a great performance. During the electric standing ovation, Edebiri surprised the audience when she whipped out a vintage camcorder and began filming the moment for the actors and crew.
“It’s hard to make a show and hard to get a show on Broadway,” Kail, who appeared onstage for the curtain call, began. “The way that you get here, as David [Auburn] tells us in this play, is one little moment at a time.”
After the show, the cast came together at Pier 61’s Lighthouse for a celebratory after-party. Special guests of the cast and crew filled the pier’s 360-degree venue, which featured an outdoor bar perched in front of the twinkling, water-reflected skyline.
Hits by Lauryn Hill, Roberta Flack, and Whitney Houston echoed throughout the space as guests enjoyed open-bar cocktails and mingled across candlelit tables. In one corner of the room, the Proof foursome posed for photos with friends and family, even snapping a few selfies with guests. While Young was being pulled across the room with a martini in hand, Abbott Elementary’s Quinta Brunson and Tyler James Williams were spotted at the bar with co-star Chris Perfetti, where Love Story’s Sydney Lemmon caught up with Edebiri over drinks. Lasting well past midnight, the party floor lit up with late-night dancing as only a weary few began to trickle out. The celebratory evening had nothing left to prove.
Photo: Andy Henderson
Ayo Edebiri
Photo: Andy Henderson
Thomas Kail and Michelle Williams
Kara Young
Photo: Andy Henderson
Jasmine Cephas Jones, Tyler James Williams, Chris Perfetti, and Quinta Brunson
Photo: Andy Henderson
Chris Perfetti and Michael Patrick King
George C. Wolfe and Rosie Perez
Photo: Andy Henderson
Jasmine Cephas Jones and Renee Elise Goldsberry
Photo: Andy Henderson
Martyna Majok
Photo: Andy Henderson
Retta
Photo: Andy Henderson
Qween Jean
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