Time Stands Still

GRADE: B+



(photo by Joan Marcus)

By Donald Margulies. Directed by Daniel Sullivan. Manhattan Theatre Club at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Through Mar. 14.

Donald Margulies' new four-hander earns its B+, with reviews that are mostly solidly admiring and warm, if not effusive. Telling the story of an injured war photographer, played by the pretty-much-universally acclaimed Laura Linney, and her rocky longtime near-marriage with a sensitive war correspondent, played by Brain d'Arcy James (also praised to the skies for his first post-Shrek performance), the show gets its share of kudos for complexity, thoughtfulness, and subtlety, though some critics credit the actors (who include the unlikely couple of Eric Bogosian and Alicia Silverstone) and director Daniel Sullivan for its success more than Margulies. This point of view--that the actors are better than the material--gets its strongest expression in Elisabeth Vincentelli's withering diss.

The New York Times A
(Charles Isherwood) Mr. Margulies’s finest play since the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Dinner With Friends.” Like that keenly observed drama about the growing pains of adulthood, the new play explores the relationship between two couples at a crucial juncture in their lives, when the desire to move forward clashes with the instinct to stay comfortably — or even uncomfortably — in place...Mr. Margulies is gifted at creating complex characters through wholly natural interaction, allowing the emotional layers, the long histories, the hidden kernels of conflict to emerge organically...Although “Time Stands Still” is deceptively modest, even laid back in its structure and sensibility, consisting of a handful of conversations among just four characters, the range of feeling it explores is wide and deep.

New York A
(Stephanie Zacharek) There’s a mournful tug beneath the surface of Time Stands Still, but the material, directed here by Daniel Sullivan, is also colloquial, lively, and inquisitive without being preachy.

Associated Press A
(Michael Kuchwara) The work is smart, stylish, timely and layered with an intriguing seriousness that inspires discussion after the curtain comes down...It is Linney who galvanizes the production, expertly riding the rhythms of Margulies' insightful writing. There is an unsparing directness to her performance — not to mention a superb sense of timing — that makes this photographer one of the most compelling characters to grace a Broadway stage this season.

Bloomberg News A
(John Simon) Compellingly demonstrates what a master playwright can do with great economy and efficiency, and with four fine actors who conjure up a commanding cross section of our conflicted, compromising or intransigent world...A rare play that encompasses universal issues and personal problems with equal compassionate insight...No actress conveys better than Linney the intellectual and professional woman riven by antithetical needs, wittily pursuing unencumbered freedom while also craving sexual and emotional fulfillment. D’Arcy James excels as a similarly workaholic, thinking and feeling man, discovering from the example of friends his perhaps even greater need for settling down into family life...For orchestrating such dissonances and harmonies, admire Sullivan’s direction.

Time Out NY A
(Adam Feldman) The central figure of Donald Margulies’s prickly, unsettling new drama, Time Stands Still, [Sarah] is played with expert strength and impatience by Laura Linney...Margulies is onto something interesting here: extreme violence as a form of escapism...Once again, the masterful director Daniel Sullivan has taken a solid play—taut and well-constructed, with hardly a single detail extraneous—and given us the smartest version of it possible. All four characters (including Mandy, who could easily have slid into dismissive caricature) are treated with respect and acted with skill. Manhattan Theatre Club’s naturalistic production doesn’t aim to blow you away. But it may well leave you wounded.

The Hollywood Reporter A-
(Frank Scheck) Though this latest work occasionally suffers from a surfeit of themes and a lack of focus, it's a nonetheless absorbing, ultimately very moving piece that is receiving a beautifully acted Broadway production...The playwright's gifts for sharp, witty dialogue and incisive characterizations are well on display, helping to smooth over the play's occasionally bumpy structure...Under the expert direction of Daniel Sullivan, the four performers shine.

Theatermania B+
(Dan Balcazo) Layered and thought-provoking...Linney delivers a powerful performance, demonstrating the grit and stubbornness that makes Sarah admirable but not always likable...D'Arcy James is completely convincing as a principled man with a fervent belief in the good that his work does, who is also tired and wanting a more comfortable life than he's had so far...The play, tightly directed by Daniel Sullivan, is full of interesting ideas, but Margulies wisely avoids making his work solely about issues.

USA Today B+
(Elysa Gardner) Donald Margulies tends to write smartly crafted, accessible plays that tell us nothing we don't already know. Luckily, these works attract actors who can transcend their clichés and mine their intelligence and good-natured humor...The characters and dilemmas are variations on themes we've encountered before—if not in life, then in films and TV dramas...Linney['s]...unmannered lucidity and utter lack of vanity make Sarah more convincing and sympathetic. Likewise, Brian d'Arcy James' natural, vital performance ensures that his role isn't reduced to a sensitive modern male in distress. A winning Eric Bogosian also turns up, ideally cast as Richard, Sarah's wry editor and former lover, now keeping company with the much younger and less cultured Mandy. Though the latter character seems to exist principally as a foil for Sarah, Alicia Silverstone gives her a warmth and gentle substance.

Variety B+
(David Rooney) A thoughtful, absorbing work, its strengths maximized in the crystalline naturalism of Daniel Sullivan's production and the incisive interpretations of four astute actors...Tends to tack on ethical debate points that reveal as much of the playwright's voice as those of his characters. This makes the drama somewhat amorphous and less satisfying than it could be. But there's a ring of truth to the emotional experience being thrashed out onstage that keeps it compelling...Unapologetic Mandy has an integrity that grows as the play and Silverstone's enormously likable performance evolve, which puts the others to shame...As strong as the ensemble work is, it's Sarah's play, and the meticulous Linney reinforces that ownership without ever sacrificing her give-and-take with the other actors.

Backstage B
(Erik Haagensen) Laura Linney proves yet again she's one of our finest actors. Even when others are speaking, we are drawn back to Linney, watching her reveal more and more simply by listening and observing. I can think of no one today who achieves quite the same empathetic translucency, and you can imagine Margulies keeping it in mind when creating her character...But though the play gives Linney resonant opportunity, Margulies' largely well-observed, intelligent four-hander ultimately can't transcend its predictability. While the journey holds our interest, the destination is disappointing...Margulies seems to want this to be a tough consideration of our complacency in the face of documented horrors, but he doesn't gain serious traction...Daniel Sullivan smartly directs as much between as on the lines, but he can't keep the proceedings from feeling slightly static.

Talkin' Broadway B
(Matthew Murray) Though it draws on the hallmarks of the readjustment genre, Time Stands Still has considerably more on its mind and no shortage of interesting ways to broach the topics...When Richard takes center stage, which he does only rarely, the play screeches to a stop. This isn't Bogosian's fault - he brings a mature sense of responsibility and a deadpan humor to his role, but it's not enough to make Richard feel like much more than a functionary.

NY1 B
(Roma Torre) An impressive work that serves as a dynamite showcase for some stellar acting...It's a taut two hours expertly directed by Daniel Sullivan with Laura Linney delivering one of her finest portraits as the seen-it-all Sarah. Margulies is a master at probing the nuances of relationships and he is beautifully served by the entire company...For all its virtues, the play doesn't wholly succeed. It's a situation drama with a narrow premise that tends to contrive its conflicts and the characters don't always seem true to nature.

New York Post D+
(Elisabeth Vincentelli) Had she been written better, Sarah would have been an interesting challenge for the actress -- and she could have handled it -- but author Donald Margulies ("Sight Unseen," "Dinner With Friends") only looks at murky waters, afraid to dive in...Sarah and James argue -- about the ethics of bearing witness to war, about an affair Sarah had in Iraq, about the sacrifices required by coupledom -- as every scene predictably flares up into contention...Under Daniel Sullivan's direction, the cast of this Manhattan Theatre Club production rises above the material it's been handed. Richard is a sketch of a nice guy, but Bogosian fills it with substantial decency. Silverstone imbues Mandy -- a part written with infuriating condescension -- with a kindness and generosity that make Sarah and James look like rude jerks.

The New York Times A 13; New York A 13; Associated Press A 13; Bloomberg News A 13; Time Out NY A 13; The Hollywood Reporter A- 12; Theatermania B+ 11; USA Today B+ 11; Variety B+ 11; Backstage B 10; Talkin' Broadway B 10; NY1 B 10; New York Post D+ 5; TOTAL: 145/13=11.15 (B+)

Read On »

The Night Watcher

GRADE: B

By Charlayne Woodard. Directed by Daniel Sullivan. 59E59. (CLOSED)

Charlayne Woodard doesn't have any biological children, but she has been an "Auntie" to many. Those experiences make up The Night Watcher and it is her motherly storytelling abilities that win over critics. Only Frank Scheck, writing for the New York Post, is left unsatisfied, and CurtainUp's Paulanne Simmons wonders about the point of the evening.

The Daily News A+
(Joe Dziemianowicz) The stories are joyful, amusing and sometimes harrowing as she recalls an illiterate teenager whose ripe sexuality spells trouble for her, a bratty 11-year-old shopaholic who needs to buy some manners and a boy made so unhinged by his volatile father that he can't sleep, which gives the play its title. With flashing eyes, gifts for impersonation and unbounded dynamism, she brings adults and children to vibrant life. Daniel Sullivan, who has directed three of her earlier solo shows, gives the staging a strong emotional flow.

Talk Entertainment A+
(Oscar E. Moore) Every care has been taken, no detail overlooked to enhance the phenomenal performance of Charlayne Woodard in her solo play “The Night Watcher” which is unlike any other solo performance piece I have ever seen. It’s exceptional. She is exceptional. Charlayne Woodard is that rare actress who can become any one of the characters she is portraying in a split second, her voice and body inhabiting the human spirit of those she becomes right before our eyes. From the refined and assured direction of Daniel Sullivan, to the open and welcoming set by Charlie Corcoran and Thomas Lynch that is bathed in the most beautiful lighting by Geoff Korf to the jazz inspired music and sound design by Obadiah Eaves to the perfect projections by Tal Yarden to her simple and yet colorful costume by Jess Goldstein – the entire creative team has come up with an enveloping wrap that Charlayne Woodard wears with love and affection in her most original take on motherhood.

DC Theatre Scene A+
(Richard Seff) When imaginations are afloat of the caliber of Ms. Woodard and Carrie Fisher, I begin to soften my stand against one-person plays. I’m always afraid I’ll be stuck watching an actor sit in a chair for 90 minutes and preach to me. Even the incandescent Vanessa Redgrave doing just that with Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking failed to keep me from squirming, and I thought with that marvelous material and Ms. Redgrave’s never failing talent, it must be the fault of the form. Though I’d much enjoyed Robert Morse in Tru and Mary Louise Wilson in Full Gallop, I was still apprehensive about another “lecture”. I may be an old codger, but I’m happy to learn that I can still recant. I’ve discovered that if the writer (especially when he/she is also the actor) can fill the evening with other characters, all impeccably trotted out in their full dimension, when they are placed in a set that conjures up the world in which they have lived out their stories, I can be hooked as completely as though I were watching a stage full of live actors performing an epic.

Backstage A
(Leonard Jacobs) Director Daniel Sullivan's pacing is superb. Wisely, Woodard opts not to impersonate her galaxy of characters so much as furnish a flavor of them. At its core, "The Night Watcher" is her internal debate: Was it right for her and her husband to remain childless? Followed by her realization, in the fullness of time, that parenting is a matter of personal intuition, not genetic disposition. Forgoing a family doesn't mean avoiding painful and hilarious moments: A razor-sharp scene in which Woodard buys her Maltese, Atticus Finch, a chocolate shearling coat while her mother chastises her childlessness delivers both. Still, it's knowing that parenting has no one-dimensional job description that gives Woodard peace of mind. If it means playing the "night watcher" so Nala, her terrified nephew, can sleep, that's okay. At the end of the play, as Tal Yarden's projections fill upstage screens with images of the kids whose lives Woodard has enriched, her smile is all the judgment she needs.

TheaterMania A
(Andy Propst) The show unfolds on a stage that's outfitted with just a chair (Charlie Corcoran and Thomas Lynch provide the spare scenic design that's augmented beautifully by Tal Yarden's projections), and as it unfolds, Woodard does not so much transform herself into the characters of her stories as indicate their essences. In some instances, her fluid characterizations create an intriguing prism of individuals. This happens most prominently during a segment about a woman who is trying to raise a grandchild -- the fifth that she's been put in charge of. There are moments when it almost seems as if Woodard is portraying the elderly woman playing her son and his girlfriend, and the result makes the tale -- which haunts from the start -- even more discomfiting. There are other moments like this throughout Night Watcher, but more often than not, the show is filled with the warm and comforting glow of a loving woman and the talent of an engrossing storyteller.

Variety A
(Marilyn Stasio) The children aren't always so amusing. Some of them are desperate for love -- like Kya, a throwaway child who makes a pathetic bid to replace her Auntie's dead dog. Others are trouble -- like Nala, who brings the cops to the door. In Woodard's warm hands, they are all loved. And under Daniel Sullivan's direction, their individual portraits come across with crispness, clarity -- and humor. Woodard is such a dazzling performer, she almost makes us forget the unspoken question of why her own home is childless. Late in the play, recalling that crucible moment when she and her husband decided to postpone parenthood, she allows herself to sound wistful: "That tiny bit of time I had to have a child, it flew away. I ran out of time. I missed that." That quiet expression of disappointment, along with a few elliptical references to the reasons why that precious time just "flew away," wouldn't satisfy the expectations of emotional bloodletting raised by any conventional autobiographical show. Here, that modest hint of a wounded ego is more than enough.

Talkin' Broadway A-
(Matthew Murray) Charlayne Woodard may not have any children of her own, but she’s got more than enough maternal spirit to light up a theater for a year. Given the relatively short lengths of its plays’ runs, that theater will probably not be Primary Stages, where Woodard’s new solo show, The Night Watcher, just opened. But it should be. Woodard's personal and affecting memoir about the children she’s helped shepherd through life is heartwarming and lovely enough to sustain a healthy run for audiences filled with parents with children, children with parents, or those who are neither but wish they were. Over a series of 10 scenes, which have been directed with intense sensitivity and a buoyant light-comedy flair by Daniel Sullivan, Woodard tells of her own numerous just-missed-it brushes with motherhood.

The New York Times A-
(Charles Isherwood) Good lighting is even more necessary onstage than it is in life. But a few fortunate actors require little in the way of flattering illumination. Instead of reflecting light, their faces seem to emit it. Charlayne Woodard is among them. I don’t want to steal any credit from her lighting designer, Geoff Korf, but in her latest solo performance, “The Night Watcher,” Ms. Woodard roams the stage of the 59E59 Theaters like a human searchlight, casting a permanent glow that reaches all the way to the back rows. Perhaps a porch light is a better analogy, for Ms. Woodard is a performer as warm and inviting as she is luminous.

The Village Voice C-
(Miriam Felton-Dansky) Despite Woodard's nimble energy, her imitations of the children are flat: Though many are troubled teens, she renders them all as lisping, whiny pre-schoolers. And in the end, she can't decide whether to aim for stand-up comedy or heartwarming self-help story; the show's last moments detail a sappy personal breakthrough. A final photomontage collages the tykes' real faces, glowing and joyful—reassuring Woodard (and us) that her unconventional stewardships have not been in vain.

CurtainUp C-
(Paulanne Simmons) The Night Watcher is certainly inspirational. Who could resist all those needy, innocent children? Who would be so cynical not to admire Woodward for the caring and comfort she offered them between gigs? What's more, Sullivan has augmented the story with appropriate music and projections that bring Woodward back to the time she is telling us about. But what is the purpose of this two hour (with intermission) monologue? Is it to convince the audience to take better care of children? Is it to give Woodward a chance to feel better about her decision not to bear children? At the end of the two hours, she lists all the reasons she and her husband never had children: her parents' life issues, health issues and money issues; their own busy schedule. She concludes by informing an African man she meets in the subway, ". . .the world doesn't need more kids, mister, as much as it needs more people to step into the gap and help the kids who are already here." Maybe that's why at times The Night Watcher seems as if it might be more appropriate for a therapist than an audience.

New York Post D
(Frank Scheck) To be sure, there are moments that are highly involving. Particularly strong are the episodes in which a friend's daughter comes to Woodard for advice after getting pregnant, and another seeks her out after being sexually molested by a relative. The segment that gives the play its title, in which Woodard tries to comfort her 9-year-old nephew after he's been terrorized by his alcoholic father, is also deeply moving. But for each weighty anecdote, there's another that's trivial and self-indulgent. A scene in which Woodard relates buying a shearling coat for her beloved Maltese terrier is related with the same breathless intensity as everything else.

The New Yorker D-
(Unsigned) A high-wattage performer, Woodard nevertheless runs into trouble: by recounting one successful intervention into a young life after another, she appears to be implicitly disparaging her friends’—and, by extension, the black community’s—parenting skills. But the show seems less a social critique than a platform for Woodard to be applauded for her personal virtue.

The Daily News A+ 14; Talk Entertainment A+ 14; DC Theatre Scene A+ 14; Backstage A 13; TheaterMania A 13; Variety A 13; Talkin' Broadway A- 12; The New York Times A- 12; The Village Voice C- 6; CurtainUp C- 6; New York Post D 4; The New Yorker D- 3; TOTAL: 124/12 = 10.33 (B)

Read On »

Twelfth Night

GRADE: A

By William Shakespeare. Directed by Daniel Sullivan. Delacorte. (CLOSED)

Critics mostly love this Twelfth Night like nobody's loved Twelfth Night, come rain or come shine. They praise this free outdoor Shakespeare for its eclectic powerhouse cast headed by a winning Anne Hathaway; for its lovely musical score (by brilliant Brooklyn folksters Hem); and for director Daniel Sullivan's unforced balance between knockabout comedy, romance, and melancholy. A few dissenters point out some off-key performances, interpretive lacunae, and design quibbles, but the overall tone of these reviews (some of which explicitly hope for a Broadway transfer) is resoundingly: Play on.

The Daily News A+
(Joe Dziemianowicz) Director Daniel Sullivan's audience-friendly mounting is an all-too-rare take on Shakespeare — one that's not overly stylized, petrified or simply memorized. Even with an occasionally finicky sound system making for a couple of murky passages, there's an invigorating sense that the events are unfolding spontaneously, right here, right now...Hathaway is the main attraction, but the revival bursts with star-level performances. The cast, chosen and guided with exceptional care, is a who's who from theater, TV and film. Standing out are two incredibly versatile actors. Four-time Tony winner Audra McDonald ("Private Practice") plays Olivia and it's exhilarating to watch her trade unsmiling despair over her dead brother for girlish excitement as she falls for Viola in drag. David Pittu is invaluable as Olivia's clown, Feste. A Broadway vet, he's got the keenest comic chops in town and a fantastic way with a tune...The Brooklyn-based folk-rock band Hem wrote the melodies to go with the Bard's text; like the show itself, they're a dreamy mix of melancholy and merry.

Variety A+
(David Rooney) An enchanting endorsement of love in defiance of convention. It's hard to imagine a more satisfying staging of the crowd-pleasing romantic comedy than this one orchestrated by director Daniel Sullivan, a superb design team and an impeccable cast assembled around Anne Hathaway, who makes a thoroughly winning and accomplished professional Shakespeare debut. Add in the soul-stirring music of neo-folk ensemble Hem and you have one magical night in Illyria...There's a bewitching confidence in the creation of mood and atmosphere here that makes Shakespeare's melancholy comic exploration of the twisty paths and regenerative power of love, in all its mysteriousness and recklessness, truly soar.

Associated Press A+
(Michael Kuchwara) This revival practically floats through the night air at the outdoor Delacorte Theater where a sterling ensemble shines in the Bard's blissful take on mismatched romances and the things besotted creatures do for love, both real or imagined. It's that chaotic confusion that director Daniel Sullivan has marshaled so effectively in this playful revival...Cumpsty's performance is so delightfully comic that he earns the audience's sympathy even though his comeuppance, planned by the play's other laugh-getting pranksters, is justly deserved...Major scene-stealing is committed by Hamish Linklater, who portrays Olivia's most comic suitor, the dithering Andrew Aguecheek...The actor is matched for laughs by David Pittu, as Feste, a fool who's supplied with the play's wittiest banter.

New York A+
(Scott Brown) Daniel Sullivan’s perfectly cast, exquisitely pitched, thoroughly winning (though never merely winsome) production absolutely beams. I’d swear there are moments when the clouds part just for this show.

Backstage A+
(David Sheward) Raúl Esparza, Audra McDonald, and Anne Hathaway convey such depth in these roles that they are unquestionably the center of the production, while the more obviously comic characters are rightfully in support...Esparza is so intense in his unrequited ardor that Orsino's passion engulfs the stage...Hathaway demonstrates she is one of our most promising young actors. Not content to rest on her film stardom, she bravely takes on one of the Bard's trickier heroines...Audra McDonald shines the brightest in this comic constellation....Rather than stealing the spotlight, Sir Toby and crew are charming entertainers who romp on stage while the lovers get a rest...John Lee Beatty's sylvan-glade set, Jane Greenwood's colorful 18th-century costumes, and Peter Kaczorowski's poetic lighting enhance the beautifully bucolic Central Park environment for one of the best productions of Twelfth Night I've ever seen.

Bergen Record A+
(Robert Feldberg) Hilarious and joyful – a terrific evening. The play has an unusually generous number of significant roles, with three pairs of lovers and no fewer than six comic figures. And the strength of the production – besides the boundless imagination of director Daniel Sullivan, who's supplied dozens of witty staging touches — is the depth of the cast. There are superb performers all the way down the line, even in the smaller roles...You might think the weak link in the company would be Anne Hathaway, a movie star with little stage experience. But...she's a revelation. Not only does she speak Shakespeare's poetry clearly and with feeling, and provide a lovely, spirited presence, she turns out to be a marvelous physical comedian...Everyone in this production seems to have been touched by the same antic inspiration...It's a pity the name is already taken; otherwise, the play could aptly be titled "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

Talkin' Broadway A+
(Matthew Murray) Not only multi-megawatt in terms of talent, but also as some of the best Shakespeare - to say nothing of one of the best versions of this play - that New York has seen in years...These disparate personalities and performing styles don’t just mesh, they blend so seamlessly that you’re never aware of the bevy of star turns unfolding before you...There’s no lack of the artists’ singular sparks - it’s just that none is granted more importance than any of the others...Sullivan has not burdened this play with the weight of the sorrow that taints so many of the characters’ lives - something that routinely sinks any potential fun. Instead, everyone is enterprising, willing and ready to turn the saddest of circumstances into the happiest of new situations. This pays remarkable dividends - not just for the audience, which receives an uncommonly joyful treatment of many sorrowful souls returning to the game of life - but for the characters too: Rarely has this group felt as irrepressibly alive.

CurtainUp A+
(Les Gutman) The key to its pleasures can be summed up in one word: balance. In this telling, the play's deeper and darker threads play second fiddle to the comedy (as one might argue is most apt for Shakespeare in the Park in any event), yet the entirety of the losses from which the play arises, and the romances that spring forth, are manifest throughout. None of this would be possible without an acting ensemble as thoroughly grounded as the one Mr. Sullivan has, almost magically, brought together and then led...With two major stars of the New York stage and one formidable film star, none of whom have substantial Shakespearean chops, who would have anticipated the nuance and sheer brilliance these three display? Esparza resists the posturing Orsino we so frequently see, substituting a far more human, and therefore meaningful, character. Hathaway manages to transport her impressive film presence to the stage, radiating infectious comic instincts without abandoning the sense of love and loss that defines Viola. McDonald is, well, magnificent; no matter how wonderful she has been before, nothing has topped the honesty and reverberation of her effort here...Casting David Pittu as Feste, the clown who makes the most sense of any character in the play and consistently delivers its truths, is a stroke of genius. Not only does he keep the entire endeavor on course, but he also carries the laboring oar in the singing department, which is here quite substantial...There is not a weak link in this cast.

The New York Times A
(Charles Isherwood) “Most wonderful”...seems an apt reaction to the scintillating new production of Shakespeare’s romantic comedy...the most consistently pleasurable the city has seen in at least a decade. And it is certainly one of the most accomplished Shakespeare in the Park productions the Public Theater has fielded in some time...On screen or onstage Ms. Hathaway possesses the unmistakable glow of a natural star, but she dives smoothly and with obvious pleasure into the embrace of a cohesive ensemble cast. A frankness of manner and a brisk emotional clarity are the hallmarks of her performance...It’s true that Ms. Hathaway’s speaking of the verse could benefit from a more sophisticated lyric impulse. The wit and meaning are delivered purely while the music is a little muted...Despite all the present mirth Mr. Sullivan weaves throughout the production an equally present melancholy.

Newsday A
(Linda Winer) Where has Anne Hathaway been all our theater lives? OK, we know all about the sizzling movie career, blah, blah. But she takes to the stage in "Twelfth Night" - incredibly, her professional Shakespeare debut - with the intelligence, charm and dazzle of someone who has always belonged right up there. And she is far from the only allure in Daniel Sullivan's luscious and nutty dreamboat of a production - the sort of sure-handed combination of glitz and grace that Joseph Papp must have imagined for his audacious free Shakespeare in the Park. Instead of the customary watery set on a mystical island, this story of shipwrecks and mistaken identities unfolds in a 19th century landscape of rolling hillocks carpeted in yummy green lawns (designed by John Lee Beatty) - all the better for expert toppling, flopping and luxuriating amid exceptionally lucid versifying.

Time Out NY A
(David Cote) The cast’s jollity is catching: We too feel young again—or, at least, that we’re reliving the early joys of Shakespeare. There’s not a weak link in this buoyant, musical delight (with delicate tunes by the folk ensemble Hem), and Anne Hathaway’s outdoor-Bard debut is impressive. Not only does she toss off the poetry with breezy verve (slow down, Anne!), she displays solid physical-comedy chops...Sullivan’s approach is to go easy on the outdated wordplay and the slapstick zaniness, with the surprising result that this Twelfth Night (in 18th-century costumes) plays out with admirable clarity. Mainly, the cast and crew conjure a rich sense of wry wonder and romance. They roll giddily through this classic comedy, and we happily follow.

The Hollywood Reporter A
(Frank Scheck) Beautifully captures the melancholy and comedic qualities of the Bard's classic...Hits on just about every level, with director Daniel Sullivan having assembled an eclectic ensemble of performers who mesh beautifully...The musical interludes, in fact, are among the high points of the show, with the score composed by the indie folk-rock group Hem filled with hauntingly memorable songs. Productions of Shakespeare's lighter works often suffer from a lack of comic inspiration, but there's no such problem here thanks to the wonderfully farcical and hilarious interplaying of Hamish Linklater...David Pittu and Jay O. Sanders...This is a magical "Twelfth Night" that will long linger in your memory.

Theatermania A
(Dan Balcazo) Delightful...A hilarious romp that's only enhanced by scenic designer John Lee Beatty's set of rolling green hills and trees that fit right in with the natural Central Park landscape. Hathaway makes for a very cute and passably convincing boy, and costume designer Jane Greenwood and wig designer Tom Watson have done a good job in emphasizing her resemblance to Sands' earnest and appealing Sebastian. The actress fares best in her more comic scenes, particularly with McDonald's love-struck Olivia. For her part, the four-time Tony winner is an absolute delight to watch, with facial expressions and body language that seem like they should be over-the-top, but are somehow still grounded in McDonald's grin-inducing portrayal. Esparza gives a more low-key yet still very funny performance, while Linklater's Andrew Aguecheek is pure comic genius...Cumpsty endows Malvolio with an appropriate smugness...Pittu gets to sing the majority of the show's many songs, beautifully composed by musical ensemble HEM and featuring a folk sound with Celtic influences...Here, music really is the food of love, and this production should leave audiences fully sated.

American Theatre Web A
(Andy Propst) A buoyant delight through and through...Director Sullivan has not only beautifully calibrated the performances from his two leading ladies, but from a host of actors involved in plots and subplots that unfurl alongside this romantic triangle...Perhaps most notable is Sullivan's work with the actors playing the boisterous members of Olivia's household...They seem like a marvelously dysfunctional family. These are people who have lived together for a while and know one another inside out. This sense of unity, ultimately, enriches this "Night" immensely. Also adding to the script and the production is the gorgeously eclectic score from the songwriting team known as Hem.

Lighting & Sound America A-
(David Barbour) A deft balancing act, giving each of the play's emotional colors its due, and providing a playground for an unusually starry cast...All in all, Sullivan's direction has a sharp eye for understated comic detail, when Toby piously crosses himself, his whiskey bottle firmly in hand, or, at the end, when Orsino, unable to tell Viola and Sebastian apart, accidentally picks the wrong sibling for an embrace. And everyone looks great in Jane Greenwood's Regency-era costumes...This production's double vision reaches its fulfillment in the final scene in which all secrets are revealed and the paired lovers are serenaded with the oddly introspective final song...Cheers to Sullivan and company for providing three hours of civilized amusement.

AM New York B+
(Matt Windman) Hathaway gives a convincing but rather unimposing performance as Viola, the smart gal who disguises herself as a male servant but then falls in love with her master...Hathaway is kind of overshadowed by some of New York’s finest theater actors including Audra McDonald, Raul Esparza, Michael Cumpsty, Julie White, David Pittu, Stark Sands and Jay O. Sanders. Don’t ask us to pick and choose our favorite performances, but the most memorable include Esparza as a self-pitying and blooding Orsino and Hamish Linklater, who takes broad physical comedy to a silly extreme as the foppish Sir Andrew. Dan Sullivan’s enjoyable production emphasizes the play’s storytelling, its comedic elements, and is happily free of any awkward directoral concepts or unnecessary messages...But Sullivan’s most appealing contribution was the addition of a small folk band at the side of the stage, allowing his cast to show off their strong voices whenever possible.

Bloomberg News B
(John Simon) Hathaway, though slightly shortchanging the poetic, expertly blends the boyish and the womanly in Viola. McDonald, while playing a more contemporary, less aristocratic Olivia, invests her with brio. Cumpsty, auburn-wigged, puts across Malvolio’s arrogance and subsequent pathos perfectly. Sullivan is, to be sure, a canny director and you may observe countless clever staging touches...The production’s chief problem is encapsulated in that pastoral set. It’s a romantic garden sporting lush grass and bosky knolls. A path atop a verdant embankment is lined with dwarf trees harboring hidden lights that will illuminate the climax. The hills provoke droll slidings down and agile leaps up; the shrubbery provides nifty concealment for plotters. Yet there’s no trace of a human habitat in this place of enchantment -- best for some other play. The same may be said of Jane Greenwood’s exuberant costumes...My only quarrel is with the wonderful Raul Esparza, whose Duke Orsino could use more hauteur and a less Orphan Annieish wig, and who might show greater affection for Viola as a boy to make his prompt embrace of her as a fiancee more believable...Still, this “Twelfth Night” is mostly for gushing innocents or indulgent sophisticates; those in between had better beware...With visual opulence and directorial connivance, slaphappiness prevails.

Nytheatre.com B
(David Gordon) Compared to others I've seen...there's nothing particularly special in Sullivan's staging. It's accessible, straightforward, and respectful. While it may not be a Twelfth Night for the ages, it provides for a most enjoyable theatrical experience, the way only a show at the Delacorte Theater can...Sullivan's risklessness with Cumpsty and Esparza is visible in their performances. As a result, Cumpsty's Malviolio is ineffective, drawing neither hatred nor pity. The role, a highlight in many productions, is rendered superfluous. Esparza has some nice moments as Orsino, but nothing is done to make the character look three-dimensional...Sir Toby Belch and Maria have the most developed relationship here that I've ever seen, with White almost tackling Sanders with a kiss the first time they're on stage together. They, along with Hamish Linklater's pratfalling Sir Andrew Aguecheek, provide the bulk of the comedy and their scenes, accordingly, are highlights. For what is essentially her professional theater debut, Hathaway acquits herself well. Her Viola is well thought-out and has very nice chemistry with McDonald's glorious Olivia.

New York Post B-
(Elisabeth Vincentelli) As the sexy, witty, modernly ambiguous Viola, laying waste to men and women's hearts, Hathaway gives a solid, committed performance. To paraphrase the immortal words of the Bard of Atlanta, T.I., all you haters can get at her, but she's serious...Despite occasional mumbling, her Viola is delightful and endearing in a puppyish way. Like the colorful, fast-paced production itself -- the three hours positively fly by -- Hathaway is light on her feet. She may not unearth any new nuances in the part, but it's also difficult not to bask in her contagious enthusiasm...Sullivan was happy just smoothing out all the kinks (pun intended) and adding broooooaaaaad crowd-pleasing sight gags whenever possible. At times it seems as if his directions to the actors consisted mainly of "Why don't you just do that voodoo that you do so well?" This hands-off approach plays to the advantage of the comic leads, who fare better than the romantic ones. It says something about the tone of a production of "Twelfth Night" when you can't wait for Orsino, Olivia and Viola to make room for Olivia's doofus suitor, Andrew Aguecheek...Yes, it's a fine and jolly evening. But there's also a little something missing--an undercurrent of wistfulness, perhaps, a certain melancholia to balance out the laughs. As a result, the show is hard to dislike--but it's also hard to love.

The Daily News A+ 14; Variety A+ 14; Associated Press A+ 14; New York A+ 14; Backstage A+ 14; Bergen Record A+ 14; Talkin' Broadway A+ 14; CurtainUp A+ 14; The New York Times A 13; Newsday A 13; Time Out NY A 13; The Hollywood Reporter A 13;
Theatermania A 13; American Theatre Web A 13; LS&A A- 12; AM New York B+ 11; Bloomberg News B 10; Nytheatre.com B 10; New York Post B- 9; TOTAL: 242/19=12.74 (A)

Read On »

Accent on Youth

GRADE: C+

By Samson Raphaelson. Directed by Daniel Sullivan. Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. (CLOSED)

Critics aren't exactly popping their corks over Manhattan Theatre Club's new revival of Samson Raphaelson's 1934 romantic comedy, in which David Hyde Pierce lightly limns a playwright's midlife crisis. Most critics appreciate Pierce's comic timing and single out a few other supporting performances for praise (Charles Kimbrough and Byron Jennings get some love), but are otherwise content to damn the enterprise with faint praise. At either end of the spectrum, a few are a tad more charmed and a few are much more severe, in particular the Post's Elisabeth Vincentelli, who may be the first theater critic at a major New York daily to use "emo" as an adjective.

Theater News Online A
(Jessica Branch) This wry comedy by Samson Raphanelson, better known for The Jazz Singer, still retains more vigor and charm than many more modern shows-as well as a touch of wisdom...The elaborately plotted, fast-moving play has more than its share of clever lines and witty observations, and director Daniel Sullivan makes the action run smoothly and logically despite the odd central caesura. But what ultimately makes the comedy stick with you as well as sparkle is that, while it plays with cliches of young obsessions and old love (the name of Steven's play within the play), it never reduces its characters to the stereotypes inherited from Restoration comedy.

New York A-
(Stephanie Zacharek) David Hyde Pierce has an air of nebbishy elegance that’s perfect for Samson Raphaelson’s 1934 Accent on Youth...and he brings buoyancy to Raphaelson’s Champagne-pop dialogue. The glamour quotient (not to mention the amount of lovely, lovely smoking) is high...If this production is missing one tiny thing, it’s the equivalent of the Lubitsch touch: It moves with crisp efficiency when just a little more zip and glide would be perfect. But director Daniel Sullivan and his cast come close enough, reminding us what a revival should be: awakening a sleeping beauty with the right kiss. Or by lighting her cigarette.

Bergen Record B+
(Robert Feldberg) They haven’t written debonair romantic comedies like Samson Raphaelson’s bonbon in a very long time. The play is imperfect — the characters’ motivations don’t always make sense, and the plot takes a dubious turn — but it’s amusing and charming, and effortlessly pushes our nostalgia buttons...David Hyde Pierce — witty, stylish and likeable, as always — portrays Steven Gaye, a middle-aged, extremely successful writer of Broadway comedies...Under the smart direction of Daniel Sullivan, the actors perform their roles with complete conviction, but also with a knowing little twinkle.

Bloomberg News B+
(Jeremy Gerard) It’s the kind of cream puff -- lighthearted, wistful, with just enough wit to make the viewer feel smart but no more -- that we associate with Noel Coward or, among Americans, Philip Barry and precious few others. Yet director Daniel Sullivan and a venerable ensemble led by David Hyde Pierce blow the dust off this minor gem, providing two hours of diversion from whatever you may need diverting from...Sullivan is one of the few directors around confident enough to treat such material without the standard post-modern dash of irony -- no troops marching off to war in the background or interpolations of Ponzi schemes and the like. Pierce may be a bit too youthful looking for the role, but what he lacks in facial creases he makes up for in perfect timing and suavity...There are more performances to treasure, as well. Notably Byron Jennings as a veteran actor who gives a master class in playing a drunk scene, the great Charles Kimbrough as an all-knowing butler, and Lisa Banes as an actress of a certain age and former flame of the playwright. The real find, however, is Mary Catherine Garrison. As the love-struck secretary, she makes naivete attractive.

New Yorker B+
An urbane, well-written meditation from a literate time gone by, about a successful writer who is losing the battle between his work and his women. The work goes swimmingly; the relationships with women don’t. As the morose writer, David Hyde Pierce does his droll thing, ably supported by Charles Kimbrough as his plucky butler. The casting of the women is more problematic; they make the struggle between life and art a rather easier choice than it should be. Daniel Sullivan directed this pleasant revival, which could have used more heat under it.

Nytheatre.com B+
(Michael Criscuolo) A charming time capsule-like diversion that showcases the dry, comic skills of its cast in a flattering light...Beneath Accent on Youth's 1930s glamour and sophistication, is a soft-spoken melancholy that grounds the play and gives it more substance...But there are plenty of pleasant, harmless laughs to be had, as well...Daniel Sullivan directs with a mild, no-nonsense urgency that gives the actors room to breathe...A confection that goes down smooth and easy and leaves no guilt in its wake.

Associated Press B
(Michael Kuchwara) An amiable, minor-league diversion. For one thing, the production, directed by Daniel Sullivan, has been elegantly put together: from designer John Lee Beatty's spiffy, wood-paneled Manhattan apartment to Jane Greenwood's stylish period costumes, particularly for the ladies. For another, its cast is headed by David Hyde Pierce, an actor who positively brims with likability...It's a flimsy tale, but Raphaelson has spun it out with the addition of several choice supporting characters, and Sullivan has cast them all savvily. Chief among them is Byron Jennings, one of theater's most reliable workhorses.

Lighting & Sound America B
(David Barbour) While it's hard to imagine anyone being deeply in thrall to Samson Raphelson's 1934 cocktail party, at least Sullivan's deeply assured, swankily designed production passes the time pleasantly. And he has assembled a mostly first-rate cast to help thing along. Chief among them is David Hyde Pierce...Pierce is ideally cast for this kind of understated comedy, his elegant manner and fine way with a deadpan line harvesting the maximum value out of Raphelson's dialogue...And as long as this mild, Manhattanized update of Cyrano De Bergerac is focusing on the self-serving show folk on the sidelines, it provides some pretty solid amusement...Still, the Steven-Linda romance is an awfully mechanical affair. Raphelson basically skips over the part where they get together, so we never see what might make them right for each other...Still, anyone with a fondness for this kind of period comedy will probably find Accent on Youth to be irresistible -- even if it comes in a distant second to the currently running Blithe Spirit. It's no small help that John Lee Beatty has come up with one of his most gorgeous recent designs -- a Deco sitting room with odd, yet appealing, Federal touches.

Variety B-
(David Rooney) Daniel Sullivan's spiffy production and David Hyde Pierce's effortless timing make the antiquated comedy tick by painlessly enough, but there's not much substance beneath its mild charms...Sullivan's breezy staging of the first act, with its amusing dialogue and affectionate observation of quintessential theater types, makes you wonder why this contorted May-December romance doesn't turn up more often on the regional theater docket. But the strained plotting and longueurs of the second act, in which art imitates life and vice versa, make that absence clearer. Ditto the play's half-hearted bid to uncover a melancholy note in the trials of mid-life love.

Talkin' Broadway C+
(Matthew Murray) The instant the curtain (yes, a real curtain) rises on the drawing room of superstar playwright (no, I’m serious) Steven Gaye (that’s his name), and begins its incessant meta-tweaking of theatre folk, personalities, and scripts as if none of it had ever been done before, you know you’ve been catapulted into a different era...This is good for the production, which Daniel Sullivan has directed with no shortage of spit and polish, which John Lee Beatty (sets) and Jane Greenwood (costumes) have designed with luscious period detail, and which the cast - led by the fine pair of David Hyde Pierce and Mary Catherine Garrison - acts with elegant, dust-busting abandon. But it does the 1934 play no favors, because it just reminds you of the many more involved, interesting, and inventive ways in which this device has been used over the course of the last seven and a half decades...A pleasant, if empty-headed, two hours.

Theatermania C+
(David Finkle) Little more than mild entertainment for ticket buyers content with a passing-the-time trifle...Pierce may have made a habit of pushing the fey button when playing Niles Crane on Frasier, but here he puts the accent firmly on his romantic leading-man chops...Under Daniel Sullivan's slick direction, just about every one of the players has polished his or her role with whatever actors use as a Lemon Pledge equivalent...The exception to this perfection is Garrison, whose Linda Brown is absolutely right for the first act as Gaye's infatuated factotum. However, in act two, when Linda -- now having starred in that December-May play Gaye finished -- enters looking "extremely chic and expensive from head to toe," Garrison doesn't evoke the required theatrical savoir faire.

Village Voice C+
(Michael Feingold) No journey's easier than the amiable, wafer-thin, mildly witty one that Samson Raphaelson's 1934 comedy Accent on Youth shepherds us through. Raphaelson, who wrote some of Ernst Lubitsch's best screenplays, knows just how to spice up a standard love triangle with a dash of Pirandellian self-awareness. David Hyde Pierce and Mary Catherine Garrison, in director Daniel Sullivan's surprisingly bland production, give at least two sides of the triangle the needed sparkle, which makes for pleasantness, but not much more.

The New York Times C
(Charles Isherwood) Age has not exactly withered “Accent on Youth,” a 1934 comedy by Samson Raphaelson about the storms besetting a May-December romance in the theater world. But it has not done this personable but minor play any great favors either...Still, the Manhattan Theater Club revival...offers cozy comforts understandably prized by a significant subset of Broadway theatergoers. Namely those for whom a couple of hours of light laughs in the presence of a likable star and some ogle-worthy period scenery will suffice for an afternoon of diversion...Mr. Hyde Pierce hits his comic marks with the precision we’ve come to expect from his priceless turn on the long-running, exceptionally literate sitcom “Frasier"...The female roles are less stylishly played.

Newsday C
(Linda Winer) As Broadway's heavyweight season stampedes madly to today's official close, it would be lovely to be able to adore the breezy arrival of an unpretentious 1934 fluffball called "Accent on Youth"...Alas, it is hard to work up serious affection for the revival...The well-dressed production is more than dutiful, but less than scintillating. It's merely pleasant in the leisurely, mild-mannered style of elevated summer stock...Pierce - not particularly romantic or aged - delivers the knowing inside-theater observations with his usual pointed flair. But when Steven bellows, "To hell with the audience!," Pierce drops all pretense of the style and sticks his butt out at us. I'm going to try not to remember him like that.

American Theatre Web C
(Andy Propst) In Daniel Sullivan's graceful, but unremarkable revival that opened last night at Manhattan Theatre Club's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, the show's discrete pleasures are certainly in evidence, particularly given leading man David Hyde Pierce's elegant performance, but as this show business romantic comedy spins its droll, but not terribly merry way, one can't help but wonder why the company selected this play for revival in the first place...It's comedy meant to inspire smiles, and perhaps the occasional laugh, but it's hardly uproarious stuff, and given the understated performances in the production, occasional bemusement is what theatergoers can expect from "Accent."

The Hollywood Reporter C-
(Frank Scheck) Feels like a bottle of champagne that's long lost its fizz. Not that there's anything terribly wrong with this production directed by Daniel Sullivan for the Manhattan Theatre Club. It certainly looks smashing, thanks to John Lee Beatty's gorgeous art-deco living room set, Jane Greenwood's elegant period costumes and Brian MacDevitt's caressing lighting design. And its star, David Hyde Pierce, uses his pitch-perfect comic timing, honed for so many seasons on "Frasier," to fine effect...But his efforts are not enough to prop up this decently crafted but uninspired 1934 comedy.

Entertainment Weekly C-
(Jeff Labrecque) Looks every bit its age. Tony-winning director Daniel Sullivan...opts for the original's 1930s sensibility, challenging a contemporary audience with feeble attempts at provocation and an antiquated representation of love...Minus the taboo that once accompanied a May-September romance, the characters' whiplash swoons seem irritatingly arbitrary, and the play's humor becomes more corny than clever. A less literal adaptation may have fared better, but as is, Accent on Youth is the rare romantic frolic that is all head and no heart.

Time Out NY D
(Adam Feldman) Feels distressingly aged and extraneous; you forget it even as you watch it. What is happening at MTC? The company’s website bills it as “one of the only institutions in the U.S. solely dedicated to producing new plays and musicals.” But its Samuel J. Friedman Theatre began the season with the new-in-name-only To Be or Not to Be, adapted from the 1942 film; then came a revival of 1990’s The American Plan; and now this. When did the MTC’s mission become a nostalgia trip? Are its captains asleep on the job? With productions like this one, no one could blame them.

AM New York D
(Matt Windman) The posh Manhattan apartment set design and Depression-era costumes are pretty. The cast is pretty charming. Some witty dialogue occasionally pops up. But it’s hard to not feel underwhelmed and bored by the Manhattan Theater Club’s well-meant but unnecessary and uninspired revival of what feels like a third-rate Noel Coward play...Pierce gives a sensitive and quirky performance, but it is nothing that we haven’t seen before. He appeared most comfortable not with leading lady Mary Catherine Garrison, who is pretty much at sea with her role, but Charles Kimbrough as the fun-loving butler.

Daily News D-
(Joe Dzeimianowicz) Flaccid...Whips up so little laughter it should carry a "lite" label. It is a surprising letdown, considering Raphaelson's credits - "The Jazz Singer," which became the first talkie, plus screenplays for the "The Shop Around the Corner" and "Suspicion," films that are timeless. "Youth," meanwhile, shows every one of its years, and neither Botox nor director Daniel Sullivan's game cast can erase them. Pierce, a "Frasier" favorite who won a Tony playing a singing gumshoe in "Curtains," pulls out his signature droll charm.

Backstage F+
(Erik Haagensen) It creaks, groans, and lumbers its way across the stage of the former Biltmore Theatre despite the best efforts of a talented company. Manhattan Theatre Club's production proves the danger of indiscriminate archeology and engenders incredulity at the resources lavished upon it. What's next, a revival of Glad Tidings?...Pierce summons every ounce of charm he possesses and lands his share of faded bons mots, but there's little he can do to make this antique stereotype interesting. Mary Catherine Garrison is more comfortable as the quirky secretary than she is as the Broadway star, never making the character's glamorous transformation wholly believable.

New York Post F
(Elisabeth Vincentelli) Rarely have material, director and cast been as mismatched as they are in the leaden Manhattan Theatre Club production that opened last night...Unfortunately, Sullivan seems to have instructed his actors to act all emo and serious, ruining Raphaelson's effect. Adopting a slow, ponderous tone, the two leads leech all the wit out of the text...Hyde Pierce is so dour throughout that his simultaneous lifelessness is almost a relief -- it takes out some of the sting -- while Garrison, an appealing supporting performer in "Top Girls" and "Assassins," can't convincingly handle either her first-act mousy secretary or her second-act stage actress...The bummer of a set doesn't help...What irks me most is that, in the right hands, a Raphaelson script can still hit plenty of grace notes.

Theater News Online A 13; NY mag A- 12; Bergen Record B+ 11; Bloomberg B+ 11; Nytheatre.com B+ 11; NYer B+ 11; Associated Press B 10; L&SA B 10; Variety B- 9; Talkin' Broadway C+ 8; Theatermania C+ 8; VV C+ 8; The New York Times C 7; Newsday C 7; American Theatre Web C 7; The Hollywood Reporter C- 6; Entertainment Weekly C- 6; TONY D 4; AM New York D 4; Daily News D- 3; Backstage F+ 2; New York Post F 1; 169/22=7.68 (C+)

Read On »