PRIVATE LIVES Reviews
PRIVATE LIVES Reviews
PRIVATE LIVES Reviews#1
Posted: 11/17/11 at 3:48am
Today is Thursday, November 17, marking the official opening night performance of the latest Broadway incarnation of Noel Coward's 1930 comedy Private Lives, following previews that began November 6. Kim Cattrall and Paul Gross star, under the direction of Richard Eyre, playing the Music Box. This limited engagement plays until February 5, 2012.
Here's how the producers officially characterize the popular comedy from the author of Design for Living, Blithe Spirit and Present Laughter: "Considered one of the greatest comedies ever written, Noël Coward's Private Lives premiered in London in 1930 and has been produced around the world ever since; it premiered on Broadway in 1931. Glamorous, rich and reckless, Amanda (Cattrall) and Elyot (Gross) have been divorced from each other for five years. Now both are honeymooning with their new spouses in the South of France. When, by chance, they meet again across adjoining hotel balconies, their insatiable feelings for each other are immediately rekindled. They hurl themselves headlong into love and lust without a care for scandal, new partners or memories of what drove them apart in the first place…for a little while, anyway."
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/15/10
PRIVATE LIVES Reviews #2
Posted: 11/17/11 at 7:55pm
Backstage is negative:
"Director Richard Eyre hasn't gone quite that far with "Private Lives." Nevertheless, his tiresome insistence on naturalistic acting rooted in emotional truth pretty much does the current Broadway production in, despite a talented cast that quite likely could deliver the comedy under happier circumstances.
...
The reason for this revival is Kim Cattrall, a fine stage actor whose "Sex and the City" TV and film gigs have made her bankable. Cattrall, in her mid-50s, looks great and handles an English accent effortlessly, but she has trouble locating Amanda's dryness and mercurial whimsy."
http://www.backstage.com/bso/reviews-ny-theatre-broadway/ny-review-private-lives-1005542242.story
PRIVATE LIVES Reviews #3
Posted: 11/17/11 at 8:22pm
The Wall Street Journal is mixed:
Between Mr. Day's stiff-upper-lip Victor and Mr. Gross's urbanely exasperated Elyot, this "Private Lives" is quite good enough to be worth seeing. But Ms. Cattrall's earthbound performance keeps it from taking wing, and a production of "Private Lives" that fails to soar can't help but disappoint.
Wall Street Journal
PRIVATE LIVES Reviews #4
Posted: 11/17/11 at 8:46pm
amNY is negative (2 stars):
"While Coward's views of men, women and marriage are no longer shocking, "Private Lives" remains an elegant five-character romance with countless witty lines and opportunities for physical comedy. With the right cast and staging, it can still be hilarious.
Yet Richard Eyre's production largely fails to land even the easy laughs. While the first act - in which Amanda and Elyot rekindle their attraction - is still cute, the remainder of the play comes off as stale.
Cattrall makes quite an effort to act differently than she did as the sexually adventurous Samantha on "SATC." But in doing so, she also seems uncomfortable in her role."
http://www.amny.com/urbanite-1.812039/theater-review-private-lives-2-stars-1.3330064
PRIVATE LIVES Reviews #5
Posted: 11/17/11 at 9:29pm
EW is positive.
'Trivial and superficial' is an entirely appropriate description of both Noël Coward's now octogenarian Private Lives and director Richard Eyre's new Broadway production. And while it isn't the kind of quote theater producers like to slap on advertising posters, it is meant as a compliment — and might well have been taken as one by Coward himself.
...
For the most part, Coward's louche shenanigans feel remarkably modern. If nothing else, this zesty production of Private Lives is a reminder that some people were writing about sex in the city decades before Candace Bushnell was even born.
Entertainment Weekly
Updated On: 11/17/11 at 09:29 PM
PRIVATE LIVES Reviews #6
Posted: 11/17/11 at 9:33pmFor how decently positive that review was, it's odd to be that it got a grade of B.
PRIVATE LIVES Reviews #7
Posted: 11/17/11 at 9:36pm
Newsday is positive:
She really isn't Samantha after all. No matter how many times an actor says that he/she isn't actually a TV character, it takes a deft star turn in something big -- this time, "Private Lives" -- to separate someone famous -- that is, Kim Cattrall -- from the imprint of something as pervasive as "Sex and the City."
The separation is complete and impressive. Cattrall, who has been doing serious theater in London for years, may be the obvious reason for this Broadway transfer of Noel Coward's much-done 1930 classic comedy.
But she has been paired off here with Paul Gross, the Canadian star of "due South" and "Slings & Arrows," who matches her in both light-comedy physicality and major sexual chemistry.
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/theater/cattrall-isn-t-samantha-in-private-lives-1.3326791
PRIVATE LIVES Reviews #8
Posted: 11/17/11 at 9:57pm
Hollywood Reporter is mostly positive with a few mixed things here and there:
"A slackening of the pace as the action progresses might have less to do with Eyre’s direction than with the encumbrance of Rob Howell’s design. The louvered wall and wrought-iron balcony of Act I evoke a swanky French resort hotel. But Amanda’s apartment in the second and third acts is a cavernous folly. It perhaps makes sense that this self-styled sophisticate would have allowed architects and décor queens to run riot at the expense of taste or practicality, and it does yield one great visual gag with a ludicrous three-tiered aquarium. However, the room is an eyesore that’s not especially conducive to the accelerating chaos."
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/private-lives-theater-review-263111
PRIVATE LIVES Reviews #9
Posted: 11/17/11 at 10:01pmAck, agreed on the apartment set design. It's like the characters are stuck at the bottom of a lavishly appointed bucket.
PRIVATE LIVES Reviews #10
Posted: 11/17/11 at 10:10pm
Brantley is positive for The Times:
"“Private Lives” (which also features Caroline Lena Olsson as the ultimate censorious French housekeeper) loses some control of its rhythms in its last act, its slapstick occasionally turning shrill. And there’s no avoiding the uncomfortable feeling that the unflatteringly drawn Sybil and Victor have been set up for ridicule largely because they aren’t as innately glamorous and witty as Amanda and Elyot.
But the show mostly steers clear of such sourness because of our awareness of a redeeming self-consciousness in Amanda and Elyot. Even when these two are going at it hammer and tongs, you have the sense of their watching themselves, on some level, and being elegantly amused by their inelegant behavior."
http://theater.nytimes.com/2011/11/18/theater/reviews/kim-cattrall-stars-in-private-lives-review.html
PRIVATE LIVES Reviews #11
Posted: 11/17/11 at 10:12pm
USA Today is positive (3 out of 4 stars):
"It helps that esteemed director Richard Eyre applies a light, sure hand, and the actors show a similar ease and dexterity. Cattrall's Amanda is adorably feminine, with a breezy, un-self-conscious energy that mitigates the character's narcissism.
As the equally narcissistic Elyot, Canadian actor Paul Gross is less endearing but just as entertaining. For all we're supposed to glean about the uncontrollable erotic pull between Amanda and Elyot, these two talk about sex too much to be sexy; what really matters is the comedic chemistry between them. Gross and Cattrall bounce off the couple's freely-thrown jabs — some of them physical — and make their mutual irritation as amusing as it is understandable."
http://www.usatoday.com/life/theater/reviews/story/2011-11-17/private-lives-broadway-cattrall/51275504/1
PRIVATE LIVES Reviews #12
Posted: 11/17/11 at 10:13pm
Talkin' Broadway is positive.
From start to finish this production conveys with absolute precision the dueling importance and instability of love, as well as the marvel and the madness of being with your perfect mate, even if you don't know it (or, more likely, don't want to admit it).
Talkin' Broadway
PRIVATE LIVES Reviews #13
Posted: 11/17/11 at 10:23pm
Theatremania is positive:
"All is not complete perfection. During the second act, when the star-crushed lovers bicker, despite their first-act pact to halt such contretemps when one of them says "Solomon Isaacs," Coward throws in at least one too many flare-ups for the work's own good.
For this version, there's also something off-kilter with the large-scale Paris flat Matthew Scott has designed, featuring a high ceiling that mysteriously contains a huge comma cut-out and a wall mural on which ducks frighten a school of fish. On the other hand, there's nothing amiss with Anna Ledwich's stylish costumes, or the splendid performers who inhabit them! "
http://www.theatermania.com/broadway/reviews/11-2011/private-lives_44804.html
PRIVATE LIVES Reviews #14
Posted: 11/17/11 at 10:28pm
nothing to see here
Updated On: 11/17/11 at 10:28 PM
PRIVATE LIVES Reviews #15
Posted: 11/17/11 at 10:36pmYup, I posted that one at 10:10. It's been up for a little while.
PRIVATE LIVES Reviews #16
Posted: 11/17/11 at 10:47pm
Bloomberg is negative.
Director Richard Eyre sets his actors loose with pratfalls, smirks and other physical business that weakens the comedy.
Bloomberg News
PRIVATE LIVES Reviews #17
Posted: 11/17/11 at 10:52pm
The AP is positive:
"Director Richard Eyre and the cast succeed in a tricky balancing act for a play written in 1930: Keep the humor, but lose much of the affected, mannered performances — all those "darlings" and "splendids" and Coward bon mots — that often make his plays seem frothy and insubstantial.
The result, which opened Thursday at the Music Box Theatre, is funny and insightful in its attempt to reconcile the notion of marriage and sexual attraction, and yet also doesn't shy away from exploring the link between lust and violence."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/11/17/entertainment/e191524S34.DTL
PRIVATE LIVES Reviews #18
Posted: 11/17/11 at 10:58pm
The New York Post is negative:
Unfortunately, Richard Eyre’s production stacks the deck, making it overly clear the new couples don’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell.
...
Cattrall shoulders her share of the heavy lifting with grace and sexiness, but you wish she had a better sparring partner.
New York Post
PRIVATE LIVES Reviews #19
Posted: 11/17/11 at 11:01pm
What is with the weird ratings tonight? EW gives an almost rave a B, the NY Post gives a very negative review 2.5 stars out of 4... so weird.
Anyway...
NY Mag is mixed:
"“For me,” a famous director once told the New York Times, “Coward is nails down a blackboard.” That was Sir Richard Eyre, ten years ago. Today, he’s directing the first Noel Coward play of his long and distinguished career, the nth Broadway revival of Private Lives, starring Sex and the City’s Kim Cattrall and the dapper Canadian leading man Paul Gross (Slings & Arrows, Due South). The results are perfectly competent, often charming, and a little flat. Maybe not Norfolk-flat, but not exactly well-hillocked either: The stomach-tickling rise and fall of comedy is here reduced to a gentle rocking motion. Laughter: Present! But not exactly preeminent. Clearly, Eyre still doesn’t relish Coward, and Coward seems to feel the same way about Eyre: The play recoils a little at his touch, and the coolness has, to some extent, spread to the leads, both of whom are technically excellent, but who exhibit a bit more chemistry with themselves than each other. The laughs land gingerly, and some merely touch down and flutter off again. "
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/11/theater-review-private-lives.html
PRIVATE LIVES Reviews #20
Posted: 11/17/11 at 11:05pm
NY Daily News is negative (2 of 5 stars):
"And now Cattrall, who sports a pushup voice pitched somewhere between girlish and Glynis Johns. What made her Samantha on “SATC” so effective was the down-and-dirty humanity she brought effortlessly to the part. Here, Amanda’s innate leisure-class privilege eludes her. Cattrall has little moments, including when she silently mouths Elyot’s new wife’s name in disgust and when she launches herself like a missile onto a bed.
Gross, a Canadian actor known for “Due South,” makes a dashing Elyot, but too often equates scowling and shouting with humor. He and Cattrall look good together, but that’s not the same thing as hot chemistry. Simon Paisley Day and Anna Madeley capably play their new lovers.
Director Richard Eyre (“Mary Poppins,” “Arcadia”) has guided stylish Broadway productions, but his work here isn’t his best. Rob Howell’s hotel set for Act I lacks imagination and Amanda’s French flat in Act II and III, with its sponged walls and piano, evoke a “Design Star” misfire."
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/sex-city-star-kim-cattrall-heads-a-fizz-free-broadway-revival-noel-coward-classic-comedy-article-1.979142
PRIVATE LIVES Reviews #21
Posted: 11/17/11 at 11:05pmETA - Too slow. :) Updated On: 11/17/11 at 11:05 PM
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/15/10
PRIVATE LIVES Reviews #22
Posted: 11/17/11 at 11:08pm
I saw the show tonight, I really enjoyed it and found it to be very funny.
The set during the 2nd half was definitively over the top but I loved that aquarium.
I thought all of the actors were great but Paul Gross was definitely the best performance out of them. Just his movements and reactions were extremely funny.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/7/04
PRIVATE LIVES Reviews #23
Posted: 11/18/11 at 12:33am
I am a huge fan of Paul Gross and cannot wait to see this. 
http://www.roches.com/television/ss83kod.html
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PRIVATE LIVES Reviews #24
Posted: 11/18/11 at 12:45am
Paul Gross is the reason I broke my "no more shows" rule and shelled out to watch this, and while this revival isn't great, from the fangirly perspective it was absolutely worth it. 
ETA: Bless whoever put in the Slings & Arrows link in Brantley's review; that's one of my absolute favorite scenes in the show.
Updated On: 11/18/11 at 12:45 AM
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