WAR HORSE Reviews

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 5:12am

Post 'em here!

Per production notes: "A spectacular hit in London, War Horse is the story of an English boy whose beloved horse is sold to the cavalry and shipped to France during WW I. Years later the boy, now a young man, embarks on an odyssey to bring him home. There are breathing, galloping, charging horses on the stage -- their flanks, hides and sinews built of steel, leather and aircraft cables -- life-size puppets strong enough for men to ride. And that's just one element of this imaginative epic!"

Best.

[Scottsacto]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 7:40am

So is BroadwayWorld no longer putting show logos up on opening Days? Have not seen them for "Anything Goes" or "MotherF**ker.."---- now, no "War Horse". Just asking!

[once a month]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 8:19am

Break a leg Joey

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 8:50am

Never say "Break a leg" to a horse or a dancer

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 9:12am

That's right. They shoot dancers, don't they?

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 5:24pm

Terry Teachout is negative. He says the puppetry is stunning but the play is crap. He hits the nail on the head by saying that the play misses the point and feels not authentic.

"The synopsis of "War Horse" with which this review began is all you need to know about the events of the play, which is a straight-off-the-rack pageant of sibling rivalry, youthful rebellion, crazy courage and folk songs. Since critical etiquette forbids the revelation of surprises, even when they're not surprising, suffice it to say that what happens thereafter is a cross between "Black Beauty" and "Saving Private Ryan." Small wonder that Steven Spielberg is turning "War Horse" into a movie-only without the puppetry. That, however, will be like performing "La Boheme" without the music, since the puppetry is the point of the show.

...

The fundamental flaw of "War Horse" is that Nick Stafford, who wrote the script "in association" (that's how the credit reads) with South Africa's Handspring Puppet Company, has taken a book that was written for children and tried to give it the expressive weight of a play for adults. Not surprisingly, Mr. Morpurgo's plot can't stand the strain. Dramatic situations that work perfectly well in the context of the book play like Hollywood cliches onstage. In the first act, the craftsmanship is so exquisite that this doesn't matter-much-but things go downhill fast after intermission. The really big problem is the last scene, about which, once again, the drama critics' code commands silence. This much must be said, though: A play that is so forthright about the horrors of war owes its audience a more honest ending." YES!!!! Thank you!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704529204576257154004608860.html

Updated On: 4/14/11 at 05:24 PM

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 5:30pm

Ohh... ba-zing. I agree. "Inauthentic" is definitely the right word. I am intensely curious as to how the rest of the reviews will pan out... no... pun... intended?

[Kad]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 5:30pm

That's basically my opinion. The production is fantastic. The puppetry astounding. Its sheer epicness is exhilarating.

The script is sappy, sentimental, and when the horses aren't on stage I found it hard to care. It's a play that cannot live on past its initial production.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 5:32pm

I thought I was the only one who felt that way! Nice to know I'm not alone.

[Kad]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 5:38pm

Everyone I know who has seen it has felt the same way. I'm glad I'm saw it, simply because of the production. I saw it in London over a year ago, and I cannot muster a slight desire to see it again.

Even as an animal-in-peril story (basically the most emotional manipulative story you can have), I found it lacking.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 5:46pm

Having read and re-read those reviews from London and having viewed and re-viewed all those YouTube videos where they parade the horses around and explain their process... when the more strongly voiced American accusations of slightness and sentimentality started rolling out, I thought (and hoped) it might just be cynicism. Americans don't hate all sentimentality. After all, this is the country that nominated both "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Forrest Gump" for Best Picture in the same goddamn year.

Then I saw the show. That script is worse than sentimental. It's one cliché after another in the mouths of characters with no dynamics, no depth, and no details. There were moments when I couldn't believe how dramatically uninteresting they managed to make an epic war story. And the acting -- I mean... I guess... I don't know... stylistically, they were all on the same page. But all I saw and heard was a lot of people shouting at the top of their lungs

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 5:48pm

I also feel the show's only draw is its epic scale and puppetry. The play is sentimental crap. There is not a single developed character. But the positives about this production are MORE than enough reason to see it.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 6:31pm

it's not on their website yet, but in the actual magazine, Entertainment Weekly gives it an A-.

[wendilin622]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 7:45pm

I disagree. Going into the show, I expected a great production, but I didn't expect to be that emotionally affected by the show. I found myself caring about the story as well. Yes, some of the characters were a little one dimensional (I wish they did a bit more with Billy) but I thought the simplicity of it is what made it so relatable and beautiful. They are characters that everyone can relate to (even disregarding the background of the War). Because they're characters that everyone knows, they didn't need to be too developed.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 7:53pm

AMNY is 4 stars and very positive, but I would respect his opinion a lot more if he actually discussed the actual writing (even if he liked it). The single sentence about the cast is literally the only thing that isn't about the puppetry.

"The production is set on a bare stage aided by a series of line-sketch projections that emphasize the deadliness of war with graphic imagery. At the close of Act 1, Joey is seen jumping through patches of barbed wire amid machine-gun fire on the front lines. Toward the end, a giant tank even crosses the stage.

The large all-American cast is truly convincing and works seamlessly with the puppeteers.

Be warned that "War Horse" is a genuine tearjerker. But it is not so sentimental as to be off-putting. This is tug-at-your-heartstrings storytelling at its most spectacular and transcendent."

http://www.amny.com/urbanite-1.812039/theater-review-war-horse-4-stars-1.2819064
Updated On: 4/14/11 at 07:53 PM

[Katurian2]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 8:37pm

Hollywood Reporter is incredibly positive: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/war-horse-theater-review-178714

"It’s easy to see what attracted Steven Spielberg to British children’s author Michael Morpugo’s novel War Horse. But it’s hard to imagine how the screen version, due in December, can improve upon the thrilling experience of this stage adaptation, which is as emotionally stirring, visually arresting and compellingly told as anything on the filmmaker’s resumé."

Updated On: 4/14/11 at 08:37 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 8:39pm

I was very, very moved by it, but more so from the "selfless love of an animal" side than by the "horrors of war" side, even though it is very much a war story. I'm wondering if other people felt the same way? (And please don't think I'm diminishing the horrors of war or any art about it.)

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 10:26pm

Brantley is mixed to positive (mostly positive with good things to say about the production, but less loving statements about the play):

"The show’s storybook sensibility is enhanced by projections of drawings by Ms. Smith on what looks like an outsize strip of torn paper, which fluidly convey shifts of time and setting. After Joey is sold by Albert’s father to a cavalry regiment bound for France, the production’s look segues from idyll to nightmare, with harrowing images of walking corpses, enveloping shadows and death-machine tanks and guns.

The human factor in the war-is-hell scenes (which feature a horse-loving German officer, played by Peter Hermann) is less convincingly drawn, incorporating clichés that have been staples of combat-theme films since the dawn of movies. Some of the melodramatic plot turns used here were old when David Belasco started out. And though the show has been trimmed and tightened since I saw it in London in 2009, at more than two and a half hours, it starts to feel ponderously long."

http://theater.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/theater/reviews/war-horse-from-national-theater-at-lincoln-center-review.html?ref=theater

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 10:40pm

NY Mag is mixed to negative:

"There are many wonders in the Brit import War Horse — the most intense and epic children’s entertainment ever mounted on Broadway, and certainly the greatest achievement in large-scale mainstream puppetry since The Lion King — but none of them can compete with the show’s opening. We meet a horse. He canters, he swats flies with his tail, he flicks his ears at the slightest sound. He breathes. He’s made of cane and silk and leather (by South Africa’s miraculous Handspring Puppet Company, in collaboration with the National Theatre of Great Britain), and operated by a team of people who quickly melt into horseflesh and are forgotten. (Until the curtain call, when they are justly adored.) This horse is alert and alive — so much so, we realize only slowly that the script he’s dragging is neither.

...

I’ve heard many people comment that, within minutes, they forgot Joey was a puppet: They saw a real horse. I did, too, but with an unfortunate corollary sensation. The more horselike the puppet became, the more puppetlike I found the human actors. Maybe that’s what we look like to a horse?"

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/04/theater_review_the_fog_of_war.html

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 4/14/11 at 11:00pm

I think to call War Horse a children's show is a mistake. I understand that it's based on a children's book, but on the darkness and fear factor alone, it's definitely not a terribly child-friendly piece, let alone one meant for kids. I've heard of a few instances in which people thought it was a children's show, though I'm disappointed to see that perpetuated in press. I know the puppets pre-existed from some kind of children's theater, but it seems like that's mixing people up.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 4/15/11 at 2:40am

Gah. I saw this show in London before, I'm sure, Americans had even heard about it. I had no idea what to expect, no pre-conceived notions, no raves from British publications and audiences to effect my judgement. And I have to say, my breath was completely and utterly taken away by this piece. I'm very glad I got to see it like that. As time passed afterward, I put my finger on a great deal of the play's flaws (mostly in the saccharine text), but the experience in that theater is still one of the most magical I've had in my life. I think it's a little bit of a shame that American audiences will experience this as "that very sentimental British play that was a runaway hit in the West End that's come over to us." I think there's a very American "Oh yeah? Show me what you got, and I'll show you what's wrong," attitude I'm sensing, but I suppose it's inevitable.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 4/15/11 at 7:50am

NY Daily News is a 5-star rave.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2011/04/15/2011-04-15_it_behooves_you_to_see_war_horse.html?r=entertainment

[aseatontheaisle]

Posted: 4/15/11 at 8:15am

The “human” actors in War Horse perform wonderfully but they all must take back seats to the true stars of this spectacular multi-media production, Joey and Topthorn, two larger than life equine puppets (and their creators and the several different puppeteers who manipulate them on stage). For it is Joey and Topthorn who dominate this play from beginning to end - and who are the primary reason that you should make every effort to bring your whole family to see this play.

The story itself is exciting, adventurous and likely to be enjoyed by children and adults alike. But it is also much more than that. It is a story of honor and deceit, of man’s humanity and inhumanity to his fellow man, of children and adults, of mothers, fathers and sons, of envy and petty rivalries, of bravery and cowardice, of the horror and futility of war – in sum, of everything that makes man what he is, for better or for worse. And what makes the play so remarkably expressive is that much of this is depicted through the incredible movements of those larger-than-life equine puppets on stage.

I have posted an expanded review of this play and reviews of several other plays on my blog www.aseatontheaisle.blogspot.com.

[Lynnespock2]

Posted: 4/15/11 at 8:37am

I loved it. I found it intense on two levels; the cruelty of war and the love of an animal and that animal. The relationship between the boy and his horse was something I related to on many levels, being a animal lover.

[Eagleman]

Posted: 4/23/11 at 2:17am

Well stated.

Anyone who hears about the show and believes the draw is a Tom-Stoppard-tight drama is going to be sorely disappointed. I've never heard a single rep from the National tout the writing above the puppetry.

Second, I can't imagine any one believing for a second the stage can come close capturing the horrors of war--it's even elusive on the screen.

If you want to get a much better sense of war, see stunning stagecraft, and experience taut drama, travel to St. Anne's Warehouse and see "Blackwatch".

But again, "War Horse" is all about the puppetry. That's what took the creative team 25 years to nail, not the story.