A business degree is not a prerequisite for an appreciation of “Junk,” a new play by Ayad Akhtar about the heady heights and ethical lows of American finance in the 1980s. But it certainly wouldn’t hurt, either.
The latest drama from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Disgraced” is based firmly on the real-life boom and bust of Michael Milken, the so-called “junk bond king” who was ultimately imprisoned for breaking finance laws. It delves so deeply into the weeds of its already arcane (to the layman) subject matter that I sometimes itched for a flow chart or an Excel spreadsheet to be superimposed above the stage, just to keep my head from exploding.
Review — Junk — BN+ — Michael Siberry — Ayad Akhtar — Michael Milken — Doug Hughes — Steven Pasquale — Matthew Rauch — Matthew Saldivar — Joey Slotnick — Oliver Stone — Miriam Silverman — Henry Stram — Ito Aghayere — Teresa Avia Lim — Lincoln Center Theater — John Lee Beatty — 59 Productions — Donald Trump
