Critics Pick: Ben Brantley's Review of 39 Steps

[Shakeshafte]

Posted: 4/14/15 at 10:02am

Glad to see that he enjoyed it; I thought this was great fun...

"Silliness, it would appear, has been gravely undervalued as a survival strategy. How else to explain the unquenchable life — or rather lives, for there have been many — of Richard Hannay, the charmingly fatuous fop who keeps defying death all over the world and has now returned to fight bad guys with bad accents in New York at the Union Square Theater?"

 

New York Times Review of 39 Steps

[sowren1020]

Posted: 4/14/15 at 10:47am

Yes, I thought the theatre at Union Square was a much better fit in size and history than the other venues. Great casting and the director, Maria Aitken, is a master at the clean delivery of physical comedy in her troupe, with Arnie Burton, Billy Carter, Robert Petkoff and the young member Brittany Vicars all doing superb dialect work and characterizations. 

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 4/14/15 at 2:17pm

I got to see the final dress and was impressed at the shape the show was in, especially since it was the first time they went through it with an actual audience and not just the handful of creative and producing team members they had been doing it in front of before.  

Congrats to the current production for such a great review from the Times.

[little_sally]

Posted: 4/14/15 at 3:18pm

Love this show and saw it again last week (after seeing it twice on Broadway.) It's just such a delight. The cast was excellent, especially Robert Petkoff.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 4/14/15 at 3:26pm

But why was he reviewing an off-Broadway revival of a show that closed maybe 3 years ago and not reviewing An American in Paris and the other recent couple that he missed.  While Isherwood's reviews were extremely well written, he is still the second string critic.

I had assumed at he was sick until I saw the 39 Steps review.  Makes no sen to me unless he is being phased out.

 

PS - I love 39 Steps...that's no my issue

Updated On: 4/14/15 at 03:26 PM

[Different Drum]

Posted: 4/14/15 at 5:18pm

Such a wonderfully inventive and funny play.  Caught it in previews last week without knowing much about the plot or the show's history, and just loved it.  Congrats to the very talented company for these terrific reviews.

[ddenoff2]

Posted: 4/15/15 at 7:39pm

Very happy for the company and these great reviews - AND the word-of-mouth!

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 4/15/15 at 7:41pm

I saw the tour a few years back, and I had a great time.

[sowren1020]

Posted: 4/16/15 at 10:26am

Jarethan, it's hard to gauge what shows the first stringer at the NY Times will cover, but often when they have first praised a show, as Brantely did when 39 STEPS first opened, they will follow the career of the show in New York. When HONEYMOON IN VEGAS opened out of town and then in New York, Brantley covered it both times. You can see that Brantley did just review NEVERLAND in today's NY Times, so I don't think he's being phased out, but rather in the time before the Tony nominations next week, they are spreading out the coverage of the shows. It will be interesting to see who covers DR. ZHIVGO and the KING and I.