His appearance as Brick in the Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2001-2002) placed him in one of the most demanding roles in the American dramatic canon. Brick Pollitt is an alcoholic former athlete dealing with the death of his best friend Skipper, the question of the nature of that friendship, and a marriage to Maggie the Cat that is fractured and vibrant simultaneously. The role requires sustained presence in scenes of emotional confrontation, the ability to be simultaneously absent (Brick drinks to be absent from his own life) and present (Brick cannot entirely succeed in the absence he is seeking), and a physical quality that communicates the shadow of the athlete he was.
The production, directed by Anthony Page, ran for a limited engagement and was received respectfully. The fact that Fraser took it on — at a time when he could have been riding the commercial momentum of the Mummy franchise into further franchise work — is a document of where his artistic interests actually lay. He chose Tennessee Williams over a sequel. That choice deserves acknowledgment.
Elling, the 2010 Broadway production, was a different kind of story. The play, based on a Norwegian novel and adapted by Simon Bent, told the story of two men navigating life outside an institution. Fraser played Elling, the more neurotic and linguistically obsessed of the pair. The production closed after one week, which is a brutal outcome for any production, and one that involves factors well beyond the quality of any individual performance — timing, critical reception, word of mouth, the competitive landscape of a Broadway season. Short-run failures are part of theatrical careers; they do not define them.