Cat Up On A Hot Tin Roof Reviews — Page 2

In this instance, Musto gets it exactly right:

"Johansson has fun with Maggie's imaginative way with language, but with her raspy voice and overly direct approach, she seems to be playing Maggie's extreme coarseness at the expense of her sultriness or vulnerability. Her high-volume take is interesting, but it's hard to believe the emotionally (and physically) crippled Brick wouldn't grab his crutch--as it were--and hobble away for miles rather than just roll over to the other side of the bed."

My thoughts exactly. And the play suffers because of it (and I blame Ashford, not Scarlett).

But what's interesting is how the reviewers all see it differently, some saying she's too demure, some too strident, some say too ladylike, some say too coarse, some (inexplicably) see flashes of vulnerability, some (all too correctly) see none. Of course critics can interpret performances in different ways, but these diametrically opposed conclusions make little sense unless they saw different previews in which she was giving wildly different performances or they are just seeing what they "want" to see to make their point, or worse, in some instances just making something up so they have something to write to hide the fact that they are incapable of forming a genuine opinion about anything.

Updated On: 1/18/13 at 01:59 AM

^you're probably right, but still the reviews here are all over the place; when a Maggie is dismissed by some as a timorous kitten and unfavorably likened by others to a rapacious tiger, I've got to wonder if they saw the same play, let alone the same performance.

The simple fact is that, unfortunately, there is nothing remotely kittenish about Johannson's Maggie. At least when I saw the show 3 weeks ago. I wouldn't call her a tiger either. She's more like a shrew.

Updated On: 1/18/13 at 02:46 AM

Guardian is mixed.

Resisting the charms of Johansson should indicate a bravura performance, but Walker, a rambunctious delight in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, seems oddly passive here.

Johansson, on the other hand, is very active and sometimes very good. She looks terrific (if there were an award for foundation garments hers would take the trophy) and she has emphasised her natural huskiness to deliver lines in a seductive growl. As in her Broadway debut in A View from the Bridge, she likes to let the audience know how hard she's working and some scenes seem more studied than lived, though she has a very fine last act. But all her feline grace and neat red claws still can't make this revival land on its feet.
Guardian

Interesting that Brantley complains about the sound design, like the fireworks that underscore key lines. As I recall, they're specifically mentioned in Williams' play.

---

Wow, these reviews are all over the place.

The two I saw in an ad today were:

"A four alarm urgency infuses every breath that Scarlett Johansson takes...she is an actress of raw power & adventurous intelligence...her Maggie is an undeniable life force." - Ben Brantley, NY Times

"Sultry and sizzling." - Bloomberg

Can I make a request? Can we stop listing Michael Musto's 'review' as the Village Voice review?

The lead drama critic for the Voice (and, in my estimation, the best critic in New York) is Michael Feingold.

Musto is a great gossip columnist, and may, indeed, have some interesting things to say about theater. The theater critic for the Voice is Feingold...can we note that? Pretty please with sugar on top?

henrick, it seems like most critics and Tony voters agree with you, I do recall reading other posters on here saying she was stiff and she didn't have stage presence, but you know, art is subjective, I thought she wasn't good in the play, and then she went on to winning a Tony. It will be one of the big mysteries of 2010 for me!

---

WHAAAAAAAAAAT??? LOL!!! Ellen Barkin made me believe she was that doctor, fighting to get funding to research this new virus, filled with anger and frustration in The Normal Heart, I cried like a baby while she was doing her monologue! Hahah.

---

I'm curious, who was the actor who played "Ghost Skipper"? Was he let go or is he one of the understudies for Brick or Gooper?

Unfortunately he lost his job. He was at the opening and has been removed from the playbill. Nice guy.

Feingold, perceptively, is not happy.

"Many people have worked very hard on the new production of Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Richard Rodgers Theatre), and I feel extremely sad for them, since all their efforts have added up to nothing but a confused, noisy mess, which has less to do with Williams's play than any production of Cat I've ever seen. I feel saddest of all for Scarlett Johansson, who made a powerful and lasting impression a few years ago as Catherine in Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge, and who still, I think, could prove effective as Maggie, Cat's heroine, if somebody would direct her in an actual production of the work."

voice

Updated On: 1/24/13 at 01:51 PM