Robert Liebowitz Celebrates the Great Raúl Juliá in the Old Skool Playwrights’ Festival
The Julia Variations is a long-overdue celebration of an iconic actor who left us far too soon. Through eight vignettes tracing key moments in Raúl Juliá’s life, playwright Robert Liebowitz presents a journey that is at once triumphant and bittersweet. Even those familiar with Juliá’s story will find the final Variation deeply moving.
Narrator Patrice Battey introduces each chapter of Juliá’s life. The first takes us to Puerto Rico in 1948, where a young Raúl (Giuan Warren) and his friend Pedro (Frank Petrovich) watch The Adventures of Robin Hood on the big screen. The spirit of Errol Flynn (Benjamin Hard) appears before the boy, inspiring the remarkable career to come. Yet Flynn’s own untimely death also serves as an early foreshadowing of Juliá’s tragically brief life.
As the adult Juliá, Pedro Dinavez delivers a dignified and deeply poignant performance that anchors the production. He brings elegance and vulnerability to the role, while sharing excellent chemistry with the many notable figures who cross Juliá’s path.
Tauqeer Paul is Orson Bean, whose encouragement helps set Juliá on the path to New York, while Alan Hasnas portrays Joseph Papp, the legendary producer who discovers the young actor on the city’s theatre scene.
One of the production’s most affecting sequences recreates Juliá’s 1978 performance opposite Meryl Streep (Rachel Marcus) in The Taming of the Shrew at the Delacorte Theatre. Still grieving the loss of her partner John Cazale, Streep tearfully confides, “I begged him to stop smoking!” as Juliá comforts her. Cazale’s premature death becomes another poignant echo of Juliá’s own fate, making it all the more heartbreaking when, only a few Variations later, we find the ailing actor quietly drowning his sorrows from a flask.
The play also captures Juliá’s resilience. After enduring dismissive reviews early in his career, he ultimately triumphs with successes such as Nine in 1982. A scene in which Juliá and his fellow performers furiously read the scathing reviews of John Simon and other critics is one of the evening’s funniest moments. Leia Martin, Brenna Peerbolt, and Bianca Torrente provide excellent support throughout in multiple ensemble roles. Torrente is especially affecting as Ana, the first person to whom Raúl entrusts the devastating news of his terminal illness.
Dinavez is at his finest during the closing Variations, portraying a man whose emotional anguish threatens to overwhelm him even as he remains utterly devoted to his craft.
The final Variation is, unsurprisingly, a tearjerker. A gravely ill Juliá hails a taxi and strikes up a conversation with a driver (Martin) who recognizes him. Presented as one of the last people to see him alive, she unknowingly bears witness to the final moments of an extraordinary life.
Though The Julia Variations offers only a brief glimpse into pivotal moments of Raúl Juliá’s career, it leaves audiences wanting to revisit his remarkable body of work—and to learn even more about the generous, gifted man behind it. More than a tribute to one legendary performer, Liebowitz’s play is a heartfelt celebration of the transformative power of acting itself. By the final curtain, it feels as though Juliá has returned to take one last, well-deserved bow.
The Julia Variations is performed at the American Theatre of Actors through October 18, 2026, as part of the Old Skool Playwrights’ Festival presented by None of the Above Theatre Company.
