THE SNOW GEESE Reviews

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 2:41am

Hello-Hello!

It is Thursday, October 24, marking the official opening of THE SNOW GEESE at the Friedman. I have to wait a good month-and-a-half to see this one for myself, but please, post reviews here!

Best wishes to all involved!

- M

[Pammylicious]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 12:23pm

I just got a ticket for tonight....running time please?

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 2:34pm

It's listed as 2:10.

[Comden Green]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 3:09pm

I loved it. it didn't drag for a minute. held on to every word. all the topics in the play were of special interest to me anyway. acting wonderful. I had a special stage door experience. when I mentioned to Victoria Clark that I hadn't figured out the meaning of the snow geese she asked what I thought, which led to a whole discussion about the play and its meaning. wonderful to have a talk with this genius actor. unbelievable.

[macnyc]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 3:11pm

So, what is the significance of the snow geese?

[Comden Green]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 3:17pm

good question. ms. Clark didn't actually offer any answers in the discussion. i'm not clever enough to figure it out. I may need to sit down, write what was happening each time the snow geese were referred to and find a pattern. i'm probably going to feel silly that I didn't get it right away although the actress who plays the maid said that if I figure it out I should email her. funny.

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 4:30pm

Why continuing the mystery around what it means? Why can't they just say if people aren't clear about it? What's gained by jerking people around.

[PianoMann]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 9:32pm

Newsday is mixed to negative:

"How sad, then, that the play is such a muddle. It's an interesting neo-Chekhovian muddle, mind you, and I'm not a bit sorry to have shared the time..."

"Daniel Sullivan's darkly luscious production"

"Parker...makes a fascinating, poignant wraith -- a lost soul in silky black mourning gowns (by Jane Greenwood), just beginning to realize how much is lost. But her voice is sometimes hard to hear, especially in the wordy exposition when everyone in the family is babbling at the same time about many important plot points. Victoria Clark is exquisitely down to earth as the pious sister, while Danny Burstein has touching fury as the German-born doctor enduring wartime xenophobia."


http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/theater/the-snow-geese-review-family-muddle-1.6308625 Updated On: 10/24/13 at 09:32 PM

[PianoMann]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 9:40pm

Hollywood Reporter is also mixed to negative:

"Daniel Sullivan's Broadway production has elegance to spare. The same goes for the gorgeous sets of John Lee Beatty..."

"But while Parker can be a dangerous and exciting stage actor to watch, her idiosyncratic mannerisms often place her inside a bubble with little connection to the other players on the stage; that contributes here to make an unsympathetic character more distancing."

"Clark and Burstein give the production's most deeply felt performances, and their characters strike the play’s most poignant notes. Jessica Love also has resonant moments as Viktorya"

"A scene in which Arnold forces Elizabeth to acknowledge the financial ruin wrought by his maladroit father provides a viscerally charged episode in the talky drama, with Parker at her most volatile."

"The play's reflections on the shifting tides of class feel as obvious as the symbolic title, a bird killed in greater numbers than the diminished family can ever hope to cook or eat."





http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/mary-louise-parkers-snow-geese-650649 Updated On: 10/24/13 at 09:40 PM

[PianoMann]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 10:14pm

New York Times is in and it's a doozie... negative:

"“The Snow Geese,” a fable of a family that isn’t as rich as it thinks it is, is unlikely to stir any emotion other than bewilderment as to how this lifeless play wound up on Broadway... Mr. White’s play remains a muddle of pastiche parts that never cohere into an original and organic whole"

"And the cast members... include the excellent Broadway veterans Victoria Clark and Danny Burstein and several attractive young newcomers... Ms. Parker, whose preternaturally youthful face seems frozen in mild astonishment, as if she were surprised to find herself here.... As reliably delectable as Ms. Parker usually is, she is strangely stiff and uncomfortable here."

"Ms. Parker and Ms. Clark have a lovely, if fleeting, scene of sisterly solicitude in the second act"


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/25/theater/reviews/the-snow-geese-stars-mary-louise-parker.html?_r=0&pagewanted=1

[PianoMann]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 10:19pm

Variety is mixed:

"Victoria Clark’s perceptive perf... Danny Burstein’s ennobling perf"

"Helmer Daniel Sullivan has done his customary classy job of giving the production a unifying look, but the show lacks a sturdy performance backbone. Clark and Burstein are plenty solid as the unhappy Hohmanns, and Jessica Love is quietly compelling as Viktorya Gryaznoy, a Polish immigrant of good birth, forced to work as a cook."

"Mary-Louise Parker is much too delicate and entirely too fashionable... adrift and more inclined to offer a star turn than the grounded performance needed to keep this wispy play from flying away to go where the wild geese go."


http://variety.com/2013/legit/reviews/broadway-review-the-snow-geese-1200758641/

[PianoMann]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 10:22pm

Here's a positive review from USA Today, 3.5 out of 4 stars:

"Snow Geese spins its wheels for a bit... But after a slow start, White's play... evolves, under Daniel Sullivan's meticulous direction, into a lovely, moving account of a clan's struggle to adapt to trying circumstances and a changing world."

"But Snow Geese does not follow a predictable, tragic course. The characters and the story develop poignantly and credibly; problems aren't magically solved, but perspective is gained and the potential for growth implied."

"Parker brings to Elizabeth a dazed weariness and a quirky, girlish quality that emphasize her capacity for denial.... The marvelous Danny Burstein and Victoria Clark fully convey their loss and their dignity."




http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/theater/2013/10/24/broadway-review-the-snow-geese/3090525/ Updated On: 10/24/13 at 10:22 PM

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 10:26pm

Mixed to negative

Parker, whose performance in White’s play marks her sixth time on Broadway, has said that “The Snow Geese” feels like “a lost Chekhov” – and that’s about right, although not in the way she surely meant. It loses in the Chekhov competition to last season’s far more lively Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Yes, that play was ridiculous in some ways, a spoof as much as an homage. White’s play is more elegant, the allusions to the masterful Russian dramatist (slightly) more subtle. The snow geese of the title are a more useful recurring metaphor (for waste, for example; the family kills more than they can retrieve or eat) than Sonia’s “I am a wild turkey” refrain. But, despite Daniel Sullivan’s polished direction, an extraordinary cast, especially Danny Burstein and Victoria Clark; a beautiful and inventive set design by the reliable John Lee Beatty; Jane Greenwood’s as-usual spot-on costumes; and Japhy Weideman’s strikingly atmospheric lighting, “The Snow Geese” leaves you feeling at a loss as to what to make of the play.

The Snow Geese Review: Mary-Louise Parker As Widow on Broadway Updated On: 10/24/13 at 10:26 PM

[PianoMann]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 10:31pm

Vulture is mixed to negative:

"The Snow Geese lacks two qualities whose absence can’t be finessed."

"The actors do what they can, but here, too, there is a mismatch. On one team you have Mary-Louise Parker as Elizabeth, looking lovely in her widow’s weeds. Parker can be extraordinarily compelling when playing contemporary characters; her thinking process, with all its starts and stops and pauses and reversals, is unusually legible and honest.... Characters who are less modern pose a problem for her though, because they are usually written to think with the lines, not between them. Parker just doesn’t gravitate that way, and because her pull is so powerful the audience gets dragged into her style instead of the play"

"On the other team are Victoria Clark and Danny Burstein, as Clarissa and Max; they are firmly in period, without stutters or lacunae, and bring the material a dignity and confidence it sorely needs."

"The action, under Daniel Sullivan’s efficient direction, moves smoothly on a gorgeous (yes, Chekhovian) set by John Lee Beatty. The other technical aspects are all lovely, and the incidental music, by Dan Moses Schreier, exceptionally so. Give credit, too, to Rocco DiSanti’s haunting projections of those constantly startled snow geese"


http://www.vulture.com/2013/10/theater-review-the-snow-geese.html

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 10/24/13 at 11:07pm

Time Out NY is mixed, with three out of five stars: http://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/the-snow-geese

Talkin' Broadway is mixed to negative: http://www.talkinbroadway.com/world/SnowGeese2013.html

TheaterMania is mixed to negative: http://www.theatermania.com/broadway/reviews/10-2013/the-snow-geese_66430.html?cid=homepage_news

NY Daily News is negative, with two out of five stars: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/snow-geese-theater-review-article-1.1495426

AM NY is mixed, with two and a half stars: http://www.amny.com/urbanite-1.812039/theater-review-the-show-geese-2-5-stars-1.6314398 Updated On: 10/24/13 at 11:07 PM

[Pammylicious]

Posted: 10/25/13 at 10:11am

I hated it. Left at intermission, as did a great deal others.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 10/25/13 at 3:01pm

Huffington Post is mixed to negative: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wilborn-hampton/snow-geese-a-chekhov-wann_b_4163390.html

The Wrap is negative: http://www.thewrap.com/snow-geese-theater-review-even-mary-louise-parker-cant-make-fly/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=snow-geese-theater-review-even-mary-louise-parker-cant-make-fly

The Wall Street Journal is negative: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303902404579152020852456290

The Record is negative: http://www.northjersey.com/arts_entertainment/theater/229208661_Theater_review___The_Snow_Geese_.html?page=all

And the last few reviews coming in seem to also be the outliers...

EW is positive, with a B+: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20364394_20749137,00.html

NY Post is positive, with three out of four stars: http://nypost.com/2013/10/25/something-satisfying-about-snow-geese/

NY1 is positive: http://statenisland.ny1.com/content/lifestyles/theater_reviews/191012/ny1-theater-review---the-snow-geese-

Bloomberg is positive: http://www.bloomberg.com//news/2013-10-25/hyde-pierce-charms-in-landing-parker-s-snow-stage.html Updated On: 10/25/13 at 03:01 PM

[PianoMann]

Posted: 10/25/13 at 3:05pm

How bizarre all of the last reviews to trickle in are the only favorable ones.

I'm disappointed to see this was received so negatively, but it was expected based on the reactions to the previews.

Does MTC ever close their limited engagements early? I'm not sure what the box office numbers are, but I can't imagine these reviews will help? Will it survive the month+ it has remaining in the run?

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 10/25/13 at 3:09pm

Edited to add a few more negative ones I found. There's virtually no way it won't run through its limited engagement, since MTC is a subscription-based theater company.

[PianoMann]

Posted: 10/25/13 at 3:24pm

There's virtually no way it won't run through its limited engagement, since MTC is a subscription-based theater company.

That makes sense, thanks! Want to make sure I get there prior to it ending the run.

[AC126748]

Posted: 10/25/13 at 3:32pm

I could be mistaken, but I believe the subscription run for this one ends on December 1, and the last two weeks of the engagement are non-subscription. So if they wanted to close it early, they could finish up on 12/1 and cancel the last two weeks. MTC has done that in the past.

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 10/25/13 at 4:02pm

With a big name star and a big name director, I'd be extremely surprised if they cut the last 2 weeks if only to avoid the embarrassment of confirming it as a flop. I would think that there are enough MLP fans who will come just to see her that they can squeek out 2 more weeks especially given it's such a small theater to begin with.

[PianoMann]

Posted: 10/25/13 at 4:25pm

Good points about MLP and her fan base.

I thought this would be a return to critical favor for her on stage, and thought it would result in a Tony nod, but this will probably only be remembered for design aspects, if that.

[AC126748]

Posted: 10/25/13 at 4:41pm

I certainly have no actual insight as to whether or not this show has a chance of closing early, but it doesn't appear that Parker's "fan base" has been coming out in droves. The night I saw it, the mezzanine was less than half full, and these reviews are likely to dissuade many who are still on the fence.

I, too, was hoping this would be a return to form for Parker, and I was expecting a lot from White, having loved The Other Place. Unfortunately, it felt like the work of an ambitious but unruly grad student, with Parker at sea in an unforgiving role. Burstein and especially Clark are doing great work, but I expect it will be all but forgotten when it comes to awards season. As PianoMann suggests, maybe a nomination for sets or costumes, but that's it.

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 10/25/13 at 5:06pm

Full disclosure, I'm a big MLP fan myself and was anxiously awaiting the chance to see this when I'm in NY beginning of December but I'm on the fence now myself. I loved THE OTHER PLACE and also enjoyed ANNAPURNA catching it in April at the Odyssey in Los Angeles (though I didn't think it was quite as remarkable of a work as some critics thought) so I had high hopes for this. I think the Vulture review of this was the most perceptive. MLP, with her particular style and youthful appearance is probably best suited to more contemporary works especially if the characters are a bit quirky as in Reckless and Proof. Maybe a period piece as part of an ensemble just doesn't allow her to unleash her full talent or play to her strengths even though extremely talented actors like her probably feel they can play any type of part in any setting. It also doesn't sound like the script did the cast any favors. It takes work to fully appreciate and enjoy Chekhov and a slow to build "Chekhov lite" script with no tongue in cheek as Vanya and Sonia had probably was going to be a tough sell to audiences regardless of who was cast.



Updated On: 10/25/13 at 05:06 PM