Broadway Blogs - Impressionism Review Roundup and More...

Tony Award winners Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons star in the world premiere of Michael Jacobs' Impressionism, directed by Tony Award winner Jack O'Brien. Impressionism is the story of a world traveling photojournalist and a New York gallery owner who discover each other and also that there might be an art to repairing broken lives.

Joe Dziemianowicz, NY Daily News: "Even the talented Jeremy Irons and Joan Allen and director Jack O'Brien, who have five Tonys among them, aren't able to breathe charm or art into this pale drama by Michael Jacobs, which is both obscure and simplistic."

Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter: "Bottom Line: Jeremy Irons and Joan Allen shine in this problematic, metaphor-ridden play."

Malcolm Johnson, Hartford Courant: "Now that it has opened, it is easy to see why the initial unveiling of "Impressionism" was postponed. Despite a solid cast headed by Jeremy Irons, Joan Allen and Marsha Mason, this new American play by Michael Jacobs too often feels like an art history quiz."

David Sheward, Backstage: "This disappointing evening is a surprise, as the production is directed by the normally masterful Jack O'Brien, whose marathon stagings of The Coast of Utopia and Henry IV flew by. With Impressionism, 100 intermissionless minutes seem like endless hours. At least you can play Guess the Artist as several beautiful impressionist classics are shown during the scene changes. Thanks to Elaine J. McCarthy for her projection design. Save your money and visit the Met instead."

David Rooney, Variety: "In that jewel among teen movies, "Clueless," Alicia Silverstone's character uses the term "a full-on Monet" to describe an overstyled classmate. "It's like a painting, see?" she explains. "From far away, it's OK, but up close, it's a big old mess." From a distance, "Impressionism" must have looked pretty good to its platoon of producers, with a top director, two distinguished lead actors long absent from the New York stage and a plot about mid-life love to speak directly to the prime Broadway play demographic. But did no one get up close enough to read Michael Jacobs' pretentious bore of a script?"

Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press: "'Impressionism' is an elaborate if awkward romance _ positively brimming with self-importance _ and showcased in a setting that includes a parade of gorgeous photographic reproductions of famous paintings. As a play, it never reaches the lofty level of its ambition despite a starry cast that includes Jeremy Irons and Joan Allen as a pair of wounded artistic types who are attracted to each other. Eventually."

Linda Winer, Newsday: "'Impressionism' manages what would seem to be impossible. It makes bores out of two unconscionably attractive and intelligent actors and wastes the sporting efforts of Marsha Mason, André de Shields and an underemployed quartet of less-celebrated talents."

Elysa Gardner, USA Today: "Both lead actors seem stumped by their awkwardly, sentimentally drawn roles, as does their estimable director, Jack O'Brien. Irons manages to bring redeeming grace to the performance, speaking his lines with a knowing gentleness and exuding an easy, rumpled charm. Allen's readings, in contrast, seem breathless and strained, as though she is struggling to force more genuine life and nuance into Katharine."

Ben Brantley, New York Times: " I've concluded that even if I were to back up all the way to the Hudson River, with half-open eyes fixed on the stage where Mr. Irons and Ms. Allen labor so valiantly, "Impressionism" still wouldn't look credible. I mean this both in terms of its plot and as a proposition that would entice some very talented people and a vast army of producers."

Elisabeth Vincentelli, NY Post: "Allen and Irons put up a stoic front but can't help betraying a certain sense of defeat. A hectic preview process, during which the play was trimmed from two acts to one, likely explains some of their tentativeness. But their limp performances also stem from the characters: The actors look as bored by Katharine and Thomas as we are."

John Simon, Bloomberg News: "Two distinguished actors, Jeremy Irons and Joan Allen, are mired in Michael Jacobs's "Impressionism," at Broadway's Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. The play suffers from three major ailments: pretentiousness, trickery and triviality."

If you're going to open your play with the two main characters discussing their preference of either muffins or coffee cake with their morning brew, your dialogue had better be sparkling.

It's not.  In fact the biggest problem with Michael Jacobs' Impressionism is that its main characters can't seem to express themselves as cleverly as the author seems to believe they are.  Pseudo-sophisticated urban shorthand abounds in this ninety minute pounding into the brain of the notion that, like an impressionist painting, life is so much clearer when observed from a distance.

Jacobs' first Broadway venture, the very funny and sadly short-lived 1978 comedy, Cheaters, was essentially a middle-brow stage sitcom.  Since then his career has focused predominantly on creating and producing television sitcoms like "Boy Meets World," "My Two Dads" and the Scott Baio vehicle, "Charles in Charge" (for which he co-composed the insanely catchy theme song).  Trying for something deeper in this, his second Broadway outing, the unfortunate new tenant of the Schoenfeld is a lot of fuzzy ideas contained in a beautifully designed, poorly paced production with accomplished, high-quality stage actors doing as good a job as can be expected under the circumstances.

The breakfast banterers in question are photographer Thomas (Jeremy Irons) and art gallery owner Katharine (Joan Allen).  Katherine is one of those attractive, smart and successful neurotic messes that generally roam about romantic comedies guarding their hearts against terribly attractive, well-spoken but annoyingly erudite baggage carriers like Thomas; her self-appointed, presumably unpaid assistant who wandered into the gallery two years ago and decided to make himself a fixture.

Aside from the Chagall that she keeps removing from view every time Thomas insists on displaying it, Katharine has an emotional connection to each piece that keeps her from selling the darn things.  (How the two manage to pay the rent, not to mention drum up the cash for their breakfast treats, is never explained.)  A Mary Cassatt portrait of a mother and daughter sparks memories, shown in a flashback, of watching her dad (played by Irons) leave her mother (Allen).  The nude woman in a Modigliani takes her back to an embarrassing time when she was ready to disrobe for a (fictional) painter (Irons again) in his Soho loft.  Thomas' own photograph of a young boy in Tanzania inspires a scene where we see the child's significance in his life and the tragedy that has made him give up photography since.  Far from illuminating, the scenes are underwritten and obvious.

Marsha Mason livens up the night a bit as a wealthy and gregarious customer and Andre De Shields brings understated elegance to his scene as the bakery owner who offers his romantic interpretation of a painting Katherine has grown too cynical to see.  Michael T. Weiss, Margarita Levieva and Aaron Lazar have little of interest to work with in their supporting roles.

Scenes frequently crawl under Jack O'Brien's direction, particularly the ones where Irons takes numerous meaningful pauses.  But the visuals are quite lovely as Elaine J. McCarthy's scrim projections allow us to see enlarged versions of each painting as well as the faces of the actors as they look directly at them.  Between scenes there are more paintings fading on and off the scrim curtain, accompanied by Bob James' piano music; the kind of upbeat free-form incidentals reminiscent of the background music used for Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.  And while those moments are allowed to go on for far too long, they do, at first, make a very nice impression.

Photos by Joan Marcus:  Top:  Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons; Bottom:  Marsha Mason