EQUUS Reviews

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 2:47pm

Daily News jumped the gun with Joe's 3-star review:

"Let's get right to it - Daniel Radcliffe, the marquee man-boy and the reason "Equus" has trotted back to Broadway.

Yes, he's terrific and gives a passionate performance as Alan Strang, the 17-year-old stable hand who worships - and blinds - six horses. Yes, he's nude in a scene, but not gratuitously. And yes, he's (at least partially) in good company in the revival of Peter Shaffer's play, which intrigues but shows its age.

Both actors reprise roles they played last year in London, and their scenes together are engaging, unlike the doc's lengthy monologues. They anchor Thea Sharrock's otherwise uneven and gimmicky production. There's more dry-ice mist than in a monster movie, and as rectangular blocks are forever being shoved around the stage, it's as if the set was inspired by a sectional sofa.

As in the 1974 original, the horses are men in brown wearing masks and high-rise steel boots created by John Napier. While wonderfully theatrical, they're distracting. The buff boys pose mechanically, hitting marks like runway models. It doesn't help that their eyes glow, sci-fi-style."

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/arts/2008/09/25/2008-09-25_daniel_radcliffe_delivers_but_equus_show.html

[kec]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 2:49pm

Great minds think alike, Yankeefan :

Equus Reviews

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 2:50pm

Indeed.

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 3:07pm

Goos stuff!!! Thank you, guys

[Dollypop]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 3:18pm

Is there any good music in this show?

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 3:25pm

I particularly enjoyed the number "Some Enchanted Hoof Pick."

[SingingCats]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 4:32pm

Variety - http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117938501.html?categoryid=33&cs=1 Updated On: 9/25/08 at 04:32 PM

[kec]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 6:12pm

The International Herald Tribune has its review up:

"Let's get to the reason you folks bought tickets: Daniel Radcliffe in the nude. And yes, he can act on stage — quite well, it turns out.

The screen star of all those "Harry Potter" movies brings a disarming vulnerability and touching desperation to the role of Alan Strang, the tormented stable boy who blinds horses in "Equus," Peter Shaffer's hit of more than three decades ago. It's now being revived on Broadway after a successful London engagement last year.

The young actor's voice is strong, and Radcliffe doesn't shrink from the physicality of the part. That includes doffing all his clothes during the play's climactic moments. But then, he literally throws himself into the role in a production chock full of startling, imaginative theatrics.

----------------
When "Equus" opened on Broadway in 1974, it starred Anthony Hopkins as psychiatrist Martin Dysart. He was followed by other starry performers such as Richard Burton and Anthony Perkins. Griffiths, a Tony winner for "The History Boys," doesn't exude that star wattage, but in his own way, his take on the role works. The actor is deceptively low key, giving an avuncular, conversational performance. It's best moments occur quietly as he slowly earns the young man's confidence in an effort to learn why the lad committed such a heinous act."




Daniel Radcliffe Demonstrates He Can Act On Stage

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 7:25pm

The International Herald Tribune review is from the Associated Press, which is Positive.

Variety is Mixed-to-Positive:

'Stunt casting in theater can do a disservice to playwrights, with famous faces often monopolizing attention while devaluing the merits of the work itself. But in his impressive debut in a major stage role, as the disturbed adolescent in "Equus," Daniel Radcliffe significantly helps overcome the fact that Peter Shaffer's 1975 Tony winner doesn't entirely hold up. The play is an astute career move for the "Harry Potter" frontman as he confidently navigates the transition from child stardom to adult roles -- and Radcliffe's performance provides "Equus" with a raw emotional nerve center that renders secondary any concerns about its wonky and over-explanatory psychology...'

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117938501.html?categoryid=33&cs=1

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 7:28pm

AM New York gives the show 3 Stars out of 4:

'...Oddly, the weakest link is Richard Griffiths, who received a Tony Award for "The History Boys." As Martin Dysert, the psychiatrist who is hired to break through Alan's tormented psyche, Griffiths appears too low-key and apathetic make a difference. Only at the very end does Griffiths capture his character's self-disgust and guilt over having to exorcise his young patient's source of passion and individuality...

...While Thea Sharrock's production could have been a bit tighter here and there, Shaffer's drama remains a gripping vehicle of storytelling and debate of modern morality. Even a mainstream audience should be able to dig into this psychological journey.'

http://www.amny.com/entertainment/am-equus0926,0,6435242.story

Updated On: 9/25/08 at 07:28 PM

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 7:31pm

It mind sound odd but im surprised the reviews are not raves

[adamgreer]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 7:41pm

Radcliffe is certainly getting great notices so far.

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 7:52pm

Word of Mouth is Very Positive:

MARY: "I liked the play. I don't think it's for everyone, but I certainly liked it... it's probably too smart for my dumb friends."

DEBBI: "The first act, I did look at my watch. The second act, I didn't remember I had a watch."

MARK: "If you've got the stomach for something dark and disturbing... it really makes you think."

http://www.broadway.com/gen/general.aspx?ci=571657

(and those clips did not really show Daniel to his best advantage.)

Updated On: 9/25/08 at 07:52 PM

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 8:07pm

Word of Mouth is Very Positive

Wow, something new and different!

[adamgreer]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 8:47pm

Of course, Matthew Murray's review goes against the grain so far.

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 10:09pm

USA Today gives the show 3 Stars out of 4:

'...Alan Strang is presented as a victim of both repressive forces and his own acute emotions and probing imagination. In treating him, Dr. Martin Dysart worries that he'll "stamp out" these qualities and make "a ghost" of the boy.

"Passion, you see, can be destroyed by a doctor; it cannot be created," Dysart tells us. It's a catchy line, but isn't a therapist's job to help patients better understand and channel their passions, however brilliant or disturbed?

It's a credit to Radcliffe, his estimable co-star Richard Griffiths and director Thea Sharrock that this Equus transcends the more frustrating elements of the text. In less able hands, Dysart and Alan might be written off as another gifted but troubled shrink and his gifted but troubled charge, but Griffiths and Radcliffe give them rich, real inner lives...'

http://www.usatoday.com/life/theater/reviews/2008-09-25-equus_N.htm

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 10:10pm

Talkin' Broadway is Mixed, with praise more for Griffiths than Radcliffe:

'...Make no mistake, the 19-year-old actor acquits himself admirably, never once looking or sounding like the Harry Potter he's been portraying on screen for seven years. From his first appearance, he's much like Alan: brash and abrasive, an untested quantity waiting to be tamed. And in the earliest scenes, when Alan battles Martin for control of his own mind, Radcliffe more than holds his own, showing you Alan's darker crippling without demanding your pity or encouraging your disgust.

But Radcliffe never progresses beyond that point, even as Alan does. You must believe in Alan's complete possession in each of the flashbacks Martin inspires, that this withdrawn boy would derive spiritual solace from riding nude on a horse, and that that same worship would lead him to gouge out its eyes with a metal spike after proving unable to fulfill his own destiny as a sexual being. Radcliffe is superb throughout at evoking the hazy frustration that defines Alan's everyday existence. But even when his clothes come off, he never reveals the extraordinary - and terrifying - creature you should see beneath.

Radcliffe's deficit is even more noticeable opposite Griffiths, who never falters in supporting his half of the brutal comparisons Shaffer establishes between the two. The imbalance between the two hurts this Equus. But it doesn't diminish Radcliffe as an actor of enormous promise, if one in need of more seasoning to stand shoulder to shoulder with the stage's great stars, such as Griffiths. After all, how often in the real world do the tricks of an up-and-coming wizard match those of expert sorcerer?'

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/world/Equus2008.html

[adamgreer]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 10:12pm

Here is Ben's review...
Brantley on Equus

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 10:15pm

I think Brantley hits the nail pretty much on the head

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 10:20pm

The New York Times is Mixed:

'The young wizard has chosen wisely. Making his Broadway debut in Thea Sharrock’s oddly arid revival of Peter Shaffer’s “Equus,” which opened Thursday night at the Broadhurst Theater, the 19-year-old film star Daniel Radcliffe steps into a mothball-preserved, off-the-rack part and wears it like a tailor’s delight — that is, a natural fit that allows room to stretch. Would that the production around him, first presented in London, showed off Mr. Shaffer’s 1973 psychodrama as flatteringly as it does its stage-virgin star...

...Yet for all the inventive stagecraft of John Napier, the designer of this and the first production, and Ms. Sharrock (who stays close to the spirit of John Dexter’s original direction) — for all the prancing horse-masked dancers on the revolving stage with its Stonehenge-like blocks — I never felt a ripple of vicarious passion. The careful realism of Mr. Griffiths’s and Mr. Radcliffe’s performances makes you appraise their characters with a newly sober eye.

This means that the homoerotic aspect of Alan’s equine dreams becomes excruciatingly blatant, a garden-variety sexual identity crisis dressed up for a night at the races. You can hear every metaphor falling into place with an amplified click, just as the psychological clues to the detective-story aspect of the play seem to be announced with the equivalent of a suddenly illuminated light bulb...'

http://theater2.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/theater/reviews/26equu.html?ref=theater

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 10:22pm

New York 1 (with video) is a Rave:

'When my mother took me to see the original production of “Equus,” it stayed with me for years. I was much too young to judge its merits, but I see now why the play had such an impact. It really is a mesmerizing work that reaches deep into the psyche.

Designed as a suspense yarn, it makes the most of theatrical conventions to question some of our most basic beliefs about sanity, religion and childhood influences.

The 35-year-old play certainly holds up today and thanks to a fine British revival, Peter Schaffer's remarkable drama remains essential Broadway viewing. Staged by Thea Sharrock, “Equus” remains a riveting synthesis of stage craft and theatrical vision...'

http://www.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/theater_reviews/Default.aspx

[JeaniusIsMe]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 10:22pm

I'm glad to see I wasn't the only person confused by Mulgrew's portrayal.

But, on the whole, the notices are what I expected to see.

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 10:24pm

At least Brantley was Mixed-Favorable. I think he very much liked the production, but he saw an opportunity to bring it to a higher level.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 10:35pm

Back from opening night. I must concur with my initial review from September 5th and say that this production (and the play itself) is truly brilliant. Radcliffe is giving a Tony-worthy performance. I enjoyed Griffiths' acting (as I did the first time), but I do think it would work better if he were more attractive (especially since Radcliffe asks him "Do you have any women on the side?" - How is the audience supposed to believe that he would actually ask that?). Despite what some of the reviews have said, I think Mulgrew is stunning as Hester, and I even enjoyed Anna Camp's performance much more than at the first preview. The horses: brilliant. Enough said.

I got to the theater around 6pm and got a great spot where I could see everyone walking the red carpet and other celebrities walking in. Marian Seldes, Dominic Cooper, Judith Light, Kathleen Turner, Haley Joel Osmond, Frances Sternhagen, Walter Bobbie, Michael Beresse, Barry and Fran Weissler, producer Roger Berlind, and Glenn Close are among those I spotted.

The audience loved it and regardless of what the reviews are, I plan on recommending this show to everyone I know. A wonderful night out at the theater. Congrats to Daniel, Richard and the rest of the cast and crew. I am planning on seeing this at least one more time before it closes.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 10:54pm

Brantley's review is totally spot-on.