BORN YESTERDAY Reviews- Page 2

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 4/24/11 at 10:48pm

I'm delighted but unsurprised to see such great reviews for Arianda. I hope that they're able to get a strong ad campaign together and have a healthy run.

[MiracleElixir]

Posted: 4/24/11 at 10:51pm

Arianda is genuinely great, but Isherwood's basically right. Kind of surprised so many people are having kittens over this, but I wish it all the best.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/24/11 at 10:53pm

Isherwood's right about Arianda being the sole reason to see this production. Aside from her fabulous performance, the rest of it is kind of ho-hum.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/24/11 at 10:59pm

I agree with Isherwood's assessment of the play, but I feel like he really didn't give Nina the credit she deserved. The production being creaky is not her fault.

[TheColorOfFlame]

Posted: 4/24/11 at 11:00pm

Yeah, I didn't come away from Isherwood's review with the sense that I should see it, based on Nina's performance. It summed it up in the first paragraph: he thinks it's "inessential."

I agree that Brantley would have lost his $h1t over Nina.

[little_sally]

Posted: 4/24/11 at 11:02pm

I kind of take issue with him calling it "inessential." Are any revivals really essential?

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 4/24/11 at 11:07pm

While we're at it - is there any show (new or a revival) that is ESSENTIAL?

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 4/24/11 at 11:32pm

Scott Brown in New York Mag raves for Arianda. I also think he puts most people's feelings on the play in nicer terms: no, it's not essential or daring, but it's still a pretty great evening of theater.

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/04/theater_review_a_born_yesterda.html

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 4/24/11 at 11:35pm

Theaterkid - I didn't mean that as an insult to the play. I was just furthering little_sally's point that it's unfair to criticize a play for being "inessential."

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 4/25/11 at 12:05am

A pan from Variety.com though I give the review itself half a star, when did Variety stop caring about theatre? What a throwaway review:

Jim Belushi wants to do right by Harry Brock, he really does. Although he isn't the gangster Belushi makes him out to be, this crude, cruel millionaire junkman is pretty repulsive if you take him at face value. Even more so if you take him out of his postwar time frame -- when rich, powerful men had more freedom to abuse their underlings and kick their women around -- and judge him by contemporary standards.

Movie star or no movie star, the audience doesn't like this Brock, a big bully who is so used to getting whatever he wants that he smacks Billie when she stands up to him. More critically, Belushi doesn't seem to like him, either -- not enough, anyway, to keep him in historical perspective and avoid the temptation to misrepresent him as a charmless Tony Soprano.

Newcomer Nina Arianda is no Judy Holliday, but she's great fun to watch as she gleefully examines the exciting bits of knowledge that have begun to penetrate Billie Dawn's newly awakened mind. (Books! With words in them!) Arianda, who proved her understanding of the inner life of dumb broads in "Venus in Furs," is also plenty cute when she's flaunting Billie's curves and shaking the golden curls on her empty head.

What eludes her, though -- and it's no small thing -- is the sweet, pure, guileless, childlike, honest-to-god, America-the-Beautiful innocence that makes Billie Dawn the immortal character she is. Arianda's Billie is a nice kid and a good sport, but innocent? Nah.

Robert Sean Leonard is every bit the heartthrob he plays on "House," and that sad little grin he relies on to convey his disappointment with the world works very well for Paul Verrall. But his infatuation with Billie is less than convincing, and the lack of energy in his courtship of her makes us question what kind of a catch he actually is.


Variety.com

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/25/11 at 12:24am

Did she see Venus in Fur... not Venus in Furs? Vanda is hardly a "dumb broad."

[thismyshow]

Posted: 4/25/11 at 1:37am

ok so it got good reviews heres the question, how long does it survive if it continues to only play to 18% gross capacity.........

[lowwriter]

Posted: 4/25/11 at 1:41am

Broadway Ed--I think The Earnest revival is much better than Born Yesterday's revival. I thought Earnest was perfectly paced, acted, and directed.

Born Yesterday is a solid revival but the play creaks a little. The acting is very good but Earnest held up better in my opinion. I felt like I was watching a production that could have been directed 30 years ago. Though I guess a radical approach to directing the play wouldn't work.

I had perfect seats for both shows.