TIME STANDS STILL Reviews

Today is Thursday, January 28th, marking the official opening night performance of Time Stands Still, the new Donald Margulies play at the Friedman on 47th. Laura Linney, Brian d'Arcy James, Eric Bogosian, and Alicia Silverstone star. The work is being put-up by the Manhattan Theater Club.

According to MTC, "Sarah and James, a photographer and a journalist (Laura Linney and Brian d'Arcy James), have been together for nine years and share a passion for documenting the realities of war. But when injuries force them to return home to New York, the adventurous couple confronts the prospect of a more conventional life."

Best to all involved.

Variety is Positive:

"Donald Margulies' new play is a thoughtful, absorbing work, its strengths maximized in the crystalline naturalism of Daniel Sullivan's production and the incisive interpretations of four astute actors. Reflecting on the divergent growth paths and changing needs of long-term relationships, "Time Stands Still" tends to tack on ethical debate points that reveal as much of the playwright's voice as those of his characters. This makes the drama somewhat amorphous and less satisfying than it could be. But there's a ring of truth to the emotional experience being thrashed out onstage that keeps it compelling."

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117942018.html?categoryId=33&cs=1

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Michael Sommers is Positive:

"The lived-in looks of John Lee Beatty's set and the understated naturalness of director Daniel Sullivan's Manhattan Theatre Club staging help to dispel the potential sudsy quality of the story that threatens to bubble forth in Sarah's troubled relationship with her boyfriend.

James and Bogosian provide solid support as the key men in Sarah's life while Silverstone brightens her portrait of a trophy bride with a youthful sense of can-do assurance.

At heart a mournful individual, Sarah might be a total downer were it not for the tensile steeliness of purpose that Linney builds into her character. Setting her jaw and lowering her vocal pitch, Linney effectively makes Sarah a woman on a mission to expose the wounds of the world no matter what the personal price."

http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/movies/resolute-laura-linney-makes-certain-time-stands-still-on-broadway

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So glad that this show is getting such positive reviews so far. Early word on this site was that the show was terrible, but my friends and I all really loved it. It's a great play with a 3/4 great cast (I didn't care for Bogosian). May it receive nothing but glowing reviews from the rest of the critics.

Backstage is Mixed-to-Negative:

"In Donald Margulies' new drama "Time Stands Still," Laura Linney proves yet again she's one of our finest actors. Even when others are speaking, we are drawn back to Linney, watching her reveal more and more simply by listening and observing. I can think of no one today who achieves quite the same empathetic translucency, and you can imagine Margulies keeping it in mind when creating her character, Sarah Goodwin, a tough, committed photojournalist who specializes in documenting the carnage of war. But though the play gives Linney resonant opportunity, Margulies' largely well-observed, intelligent four-hander ultimately can't transcend its predictability. While the journey holds our interest, the destination is disappointing."

http://www.backstage.com/bso/reviews-ny-theatre-broadway/ny-review-time-stands-still-1004063429.story

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John Simon is a Rave (4 Stars out of 4):

"Donald Margulies’s “Time Stands Still” compellingly demonstrates what a master playwright can do with great economy and efficiency, and with four fine actors who conjure up a commanding cross section of our conflicted, compromising or intransigent world.

Eric Bogosian, Brian d’Arcy James, Laura Linney and Alicia Silverstone, flawlessly directed by Daniel Sullivan, enhance a rare play that encompasses universal issues and personal problems with equal compassionate insight."

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aZ4pPYXjrFIQ

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Looks like a rave from Isherwood at the Times: http://theater.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/theater/reviews/29time.html?ref=theater

I, too, am glad to see a mostly positive response from the critics. I saw it on Wednesday afternoon and really enjoyed the play and the work that the cast had put into the performance. Many wishes for the continued success of the run!

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NY1 is positive:
"Donald Margulies won a Pulitzer Prize for his play "Dinner With Friends" 10 years ago. Lightning isn't likely to strike twice with his latest, "Time Stands Still," another four character relationship drama. But it's still an impressive work that serves as a dynamite showcase for some stellar acting.

...

For all its virtues, the play doesn't wholly succeed. It's a situation drama with a narrow premise that tends to contrive its conflicts and the characters don't always seem true to nature. But given the Manhattan Theatre Club's impeccable production, audiences will find a visit to "Time Stands Still" is time well spent."

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The NY Post is mixed with ** out of ****:

"Sarah Goodwin: Could there be a more perfect name for a character played by Laura Linney? You just know Sarah wears her blond beauty unassumingly, and her bone structure and breeding have helped set her life compass.

Unfortunately for Linney -- and the audience at "Time Stands Still" -- Sarah also is a holier-than-thou, joyless prig.

Had she been written better, Sarah would have been an interesting challenge for the actress -- and she could have handled it -- but author Donald Margulies ("Sight Unseen," "Dinner With Friends") only looks at murky waters, afraid to dive in.

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Under Daniel Sullivan's direction, the cast of this Manhattan Theatre Club production rises above the material it's been handed. Richard is a sketch of a nice guy, but Bogosian fills it with substantial decency. Silverstone imbues Mandy -- a part written with infuriating condescension -- with a kindness and generosity that make Sarah and James look like rude jerks.

When James heatedly berates a well-meaning play they've just seen as caricaturing the Middle East to make an NPR-loving audience feel better about itself, you can't help but pan around the Friedman Theatre and gape at the cruel irony of it all."

Here's the New York Times's review:

Sarah Goodwin, the complicated woman at the heart of �¢??Time Stands Still,�¢?? seems to thrive on conflict, at least professionally. A photojournalist who covers wars and global strife, she keeps chaos at arms length by trapping it in the camera lens, exerting a fierce control over moments of horror by fixing them in time.

The visitors: Eric Bogosian, as the couple's old friend, and Alicia Silverstone as his new, much younger girlfriend.
But the flux of Sarah's own life cannot be manipulated so easily, as she learns with growing sorrow in this thoughtful drama by Donald Margulies that stars Laura Linney and Brian d'Arcy James, giving performances of complementary sensitivity and richness. Conflicting needs cannot be held at a cool distance; the wounds of the past cannot be filed away like old negatives; the change that experience brings is not reversible.

"Time Stands Still," which opened Thursday night at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater in a flawless Manhattan Theater Club production directed by Daniel Sullivan, is handily Mr. Margulies's finest play since the Pulitzer Prize-winning Dinner With Friends. Like that keenly observed drama about the growing pains of adulthood, the new play explores the relationship between two couples at a crucial juncture in their lives, when the desire to move forward clashes with the instinct to stay comfortably - or even uncomfortably - in place.


http://theater.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/theater/reviews/29time.html?ref=theater

Updated On: 1/31/10 at 05:41 PM

Totally undeserved praise for this dull, dreary, dismal play. Terry Teachout in The Wall Street Journal assessed it accurately: "Nothing to recommend it beyond the cast." And the cast deserved better. As did the audience.