Jeff Labrecque

Eugene O'Neill is not for everyone. The great playwright's most personal and revered masterpiece is Long Day's Journey into Night, and the Roundabout Theatre Company's star-studded revival at the American Airlines Theatre is three and a half hours of bile, bitterness, and regret, spewed by a family of addicts...director Jonathan Kent's new production feels weathered instead of raw, hollow instead of potent...At the center of the domestic storm is Jessica Lange, who played Mary during a 2000 run in London and has a masterful grasp of the character's fragility...There is such confusion in Mary, such buried resentment, and Lange's ability to portray a woman who is barely more than a ghost provides the story with enormous pathos. C+

Noth and Gaffigan are superb, though on familiar character ground. Noth especially turns what could be a one-note caricature into something more substantial. Phil is the one man who's trying to move on or just keep up — even if he's clueless how to do so — and Noth successfully evokes the emotional whiplash of his frustrated character.

Like the Packers' bread-and-butter play — 49 Power Sweep — the drama generates power from its simplicity. Performed on a spare 360-degree circular stage without an intermission, director Thomas Kail's production makes effective use of vintage football footage and the evocative music that fans will recognize from grainy NFL documentaries. But there is a sitcom flavor to the play's comic rhythm and well-worn themes, and while the conclusion leaves the question of Lombardi's true character unanswered, the conflicted narrator himself seems to prod the audience to side with the legend. Of course, Lombardi is not a show to diminish its hero, and with Lauria and Light's sterling duet, fans can rest assured that their champion's legacy is secure.