King Lear
“As the central figure, Joel Leffert delivered a nuanced portrayal, depicting Lear’s evolution and ultimate descent into madness.” - Mark Lord, Queens Chronicle.
The Jewish King Lear
"...magnificent production... Joel Leffert in the title role commands the stage at all times in a bigger than life performance.- Victor Gluck, theatrescene.net
"...superb new production...Further praise must go to this new Lear, played with majesty and heartbreaking pathos by Joel Leffert. - Rokhl Kafrissen, Tablet Magazine
Joel Leffert personifies authority, dignity, pride, and stubbornness. Revelations palpably shatter. Debilitation is visceral. Leffert puts his whole self and body into the role. Bravo. - Alix Cohen, Woman Around Town
A Christmas Carol
Joel Leffert tore into his lead role in Saturday’s matinee, embodying the fact that, as his nephew describes, “his offenses are their own punishment.” This Scrooge suffers mightily, first for being a money-grubbing businessman with no feeling for others and later as subject to an otherworldly visitation that has him struggling with himself. -Portland Press Herald
My Lord, What a Night
The Merchant of Venice
"... it is Shylock that comes across as the most wronged. This is partly due to Joel Leffert’s powerful and sympathetic performance..." MacKenzie Cash, Theatre Is Easy,
No Man's Land / Waiting for Godot
Red
“Riveting may seem a strange word to describe a play in which nothing happens and the two characters spend the entire time arguing about art. But riveting is exactly what it is... Joel Leffert portrays Rothko as a force of nature, filling every sinew of his character with a penetrating intelligence and a bully's caustic charm..." -The Independent
Born Yesterday
"Joel Leffert, who killed it as painter Mark Rothko in Theatreworks' 2013 production of 'Red,' crafts another masterfully complex character in Ed Devery, Harry's longtime lawyer and bag man...Leffert wrings every last bit of humanity - shame, pride, drunken numbness - from a broken-down who once commanded the nation's respect." Colorado Springs Gazette
MEMORANDUM
"Joel Leffert is absolutely hilarious as Lear, the professor who lectures to a class of employees(several represented by dummies) on the new language, with tongue-twisting, rat-a-tat-tat delivery of made up words. It is a dazzling performance of verbal agility." - William Wolf, New York Calling
Not About Nightingales
"The most remarkable new play of the Broadway season is...the magnificent Not About Nightingales." - Clive Barnes, The NY Post
"The brilliant Anglo-American ensemble gives bruising, yet sensitive performances." - David Rosenberg, Backstage
"The members of the ensemble here seem to believe so utterly in what they're doing that you have no choice but to go along with them" - Ben Brantley, The NY Times
"Under Trevor Nunn's brilliant direction, Not About Nightingales arrives on the Broadway stage like an awesome, long-awaited comet." - Simon Saltzman
My Name is Asher Lev
“Joel Leffert plays the men in Lev's life, capturing the contrasts well, and endowing especially Lev's father with a dignity and humanity that make him sympathetic, however much he cannot comprehend his son's passion for painting.” - BroadwayWorld
..."Leffert offers a delightful combination of enthusiasm and bluntness as the renowned artist Jacob Kahn."-Portland Press-Herald
Outside Mullingar
Four delightful performances put a must-see stamp on this heartwarming play. Joel Leffert’s portrayal of a proud man in his declining years is a powerful depiction of obstinacy for its own sake. - The Sun-Journal
Moon Over Buffalo
"The dynamic energy at the heart of “Moon Over Buffalo” belongs to the actor portraying the aging over-the-top actor George Hay. Mr. Leffert’s performance is a carefully delivered portrait of a mad and ultimately lovable old actor."- Southampton Press
I Hate Hamlet
"Joel Leffert owns the role of Barrymore from the moment he asks, 'Am I dead or just incredibly drunk?'"`Steve Parks, NEWSDAY.
"...the star turn is the property of Joel Leffert, who dashingly does Mr. Barrymore with abandon, royalty and style. He strides the stage with the assurance of the master and personifies Barrymore the boor as well as the idol. - Southampton Press
The Diary of Anne Frank
As Otto Frank, Leffert is the quiet pivot of the play. When conflicts arise -- over food, over space -- he's the one others turn to. And the play's gripping last moments belong to Otto Frank, who alone survived the Holocaust and who revisits the old hiding place. - Syracuse Post-Standard
Richard III
"As in any production, the actor playing Richard was the fulcrum by which the evening swung, and Joel Leffert certainly throbbed with evil vitality. Like Fiennes's current Hamlet, Leffert infused the part with a surprising humor. His disarming charm and wry wit proved essential to the believability of his hoodwinking so many of his victims." - Backstage
"An excellent RICHARD III featuring Joel Leffert in a fine turn as the 'crookback king'..." - West Side Story
Freudian Slips
"The riotous, yet intellectually stimulating 'Freudian Slips' is a no-holds-barred, side-splitting drama with touches of a Feydeau farce..."- Masha Leon, The Forward
