King Lear Reviews

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 4/4/19 at 7:25pm

King Lear opens tonight. Bring on the reviews.

[BenElliott]

Posted: 4/4/19 at 7:27pm

I'm seeing it tomorrow night. I've heard mixed things. I'm interested to see how the reviews go tonight.

[carolinaguy]

Posted: 4/4/19 at 7:42pm

I’d expect some of these reviews to be sharper than a serpent’s tooth. 

[CT2NYC]

Posted: 4/4/19 at 7:52pm

DC Theatre Scene is positive, for the most part.

"If Jackson’s performance turns this inventive but imperfect production into a must-see of the Broadway Spring season, it’s not just because of her impressive stamina and control. It’s also the appearance of physical fragility that helps make her Lear stand out."

[bekk99]

Posted: 4/4/19 at 8:06pm

EW gives it an A: https://ew.com/theater-reviews/2019/04/04/glenda-jackson-king-lear-review/

[CT2NYC]

Posted: 4/4/19 at 8:26pm

NY Daily News

"Glenda Jackson is extraordinary as Shakespeare’s mad monarch in uneven production of King Lear"

Updated On: 4/4/19 at 08:26 PM

[CT2NYC]

Posted: 4/4/19 at 8:28pm

Los Angeles Times

"Glenda Jackson battles through a brazenly busy King Lear on Broadway"

Updated On: 4/4/19 at 08:28 PM

[CT2NYC]

Posted: 4/4/19 at 8:32pm

The Wrap

"Glenda Jackson Triumphs in Cluttered Mess of a Revival"

[CT2NYC]

Posted: 4/4/19 at 8:34pm

am New York

2 1/2 stars

"Glenda Jackson takes on title role in mixed production"

[CT2NYC]

Posted: 4/4/19 at 8:39pm

Variety

"Tiny but mighty, Glenda Jackson carries this Lear on her back."

[CT2NYC]

Posted: 4/4/19 at 8:41pm

Entertainment Weekly

Grade: A

[CT2NYC]

Posted: 4/4/19 at 8:44pm

Deadline

"Glenda Jackson Earns Crown In Broadway’s King Lear"

[Fordham2015]

Posted: 4/4/19 at 8:45pm

A study in contrasts: four stars from The Stage (paywalled) while Washington Post hates it

https://twitter.com/TheStage/status/1113954908607328257

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/glenda-jackson-as-king-lear-was-a-good-idea-why-is-everything-around-her-so-wrong/2019/04/04/ed786ad0-56db-11e9-8ef3-fbd41a2ce4d5_story.html?utm_term=.9646117c9e7b

[CT2NYC]

Posted: 4/4/19 at 8:48pm

NJ.com

"Glenda Jackson roars in an amazing King Lear on Broadway"

[CT2NYC]

Posted: 4/4/19 at 8:50pm

Hollywood Reporter

"Risky and uneven, but more often riveting than not."

[CT2NYC]

Posted: 4/4/19 at 8:53pm

Vulture

"But nearly all the pathos of this King Lear lies in the haphazard wreckage of the production that could have been. Blurry and superficial, the shape of power without its impact, the production that is is little more than Lear’s shadow."

[Fordham2015]

Posted: 4/4/19 at 10:06pm

Brantley loves Glenda, meh on the production. No critic's pick

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/04/theater/king-lear-review-glenda-jackson.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Farts&action=click&contentCollection=arts&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront

[RippedMan]

Posted: 4/4/19 at 11:14pm

Having seen her performance last year and loving it, I feel like I should see this. But oof. I don't want to sit through it. 

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/4/19 at 11:22pm

Fordham2015 said: "Brantley loves Glenda, meh on the production. No critic's pick"

Oh man... he is not MEH on the production. Aside from Glenda, that is a pan. He hated it.

[haterobics]

Posted: 4/5/19 at 1:05am

This sounds like the female version of Network. If you mainly want to see Glenda shine in an otherwise blah production, you will be rewarded.

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 4/5/19 at 9:06am

If you want your memories of Glenda from last year to go untarnished I absolutely recommend skipping this one. 

It is such a disappointment. 

[east side story]

Posted: 4/5/19 at 9:06am

I gotta agree with NYT on this one. I thought this production was an absolute turkey.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 4/5/19 at 9:06am

Brantley's comment on the score:

"this intermittent concert seems to be competing with, rather than underscoring, Shakespeare’s bleakest tragedy."

This.  THIS.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 4/5/19 at 9:07am

Brantley hit the nail on the head with that review.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 4/5/19 at 9:22am

For me the biggest problem with the production, which I saw about a week ago, was the total, utter, absolute absence of anything remotely resembling even the vaguest whisper of an emotional connection between Lear and Cordelia.  There was nothing, zip zero zilch -- for the first time in my experience with this story I found myself imagining Cordelia on the throne of France, laughing laughing laughing and suggesting to her husband that there might be some nice real estate in her home country they could pick up cheap.  

The emotional centers of the play were Kent and Gloucester.  At least they were the night I saw it.  Maybe this issue has been addressed since then.