The Father
One hour and 30 minutes, with no intermission
The Father - 2016 Broadway History , Info & More
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (Broadway)
261 W. 47th St. New York, NY 10036
The Father is the acclaimed new play by Florian Zeller, in a translation by two-time Tony winner Christopher Hampton, directed by Tony Award winner Doug Hughes.
The Father offers a fascinating look inside the mind of Andre (Frank Langella), a retired dancer living with his adult daughter Anne and her husband. Or is he a retired engineer receiving a visit from Anne who has moved away with her boyfriend? Why do strangers keep turning up in his room? And where has he left his watch?
The Father - 2016 - Broadway Cast
PREVIEW The Father - 2016 - Broadway
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FEATURED REVIEWS FOR The Father
Volatile Langella Loses Grip on Reality in MTC's 'The Father'
7 / 10
..Because 'The Father' is presented from the view of Langella's André, a retired Parisian engineer-or perhaps a tap dancer?-we can't be sure what's actually happening and what's his imagination...The three-time Tony Award winner (currently on FX's 'The Americans') brings trademark versatility to the role, alternating from aggressive, to lucid and charming, then insecure and infantile. Langella's mercurial performance surely will be relatable to any audience member who has spent time around a person with dementia...Much of 'The Father' is a delusion, and so we work to form our own conclusions about what's real or not, even as André's shifting reality guides us toward a foreshadowed ending. This is an intricately constructed drama depicting a phenomenon few can identify with-what it must be like to be a capable person slowly losing his mind.
Arts and Entertainment Frank Langella in the disappointingly prosaic ‘The Father’
7 / 10
'The Father' - not of course, to be mistaken for the unnerving August Strindberg play of the same title - lumbers on in this vein for an hour and a half. The turbulent turns in Andre's powers of perception may strike one as unpredictable, but Zeller and Hampton's machinations do not. Langella is a bit too robust for a man so ravaged by mental deterioration. Still, he's in his element here, conveying with Lear-like levels of outrage and hurt Andre's refusal, or inability, to comprehend what is happening to him. As a demonstration of how Alzheimer's runs its course, Hughes's production has some merit: It might be serve as a useful training tool for medical schools. As illness-of-the-week plays go, however, 'The Father' is mundane. Much finer works, such as Margaret Edson's 'Wit,' about a professor dying of ovarian cancer, have crossed this company's path in the past.
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The Father History
Other Productions of The Father
| 1912 | Broadway |
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| 1928 | Broadway |
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| 1949 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1962 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 1981 | Broadway |
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| 1996 | Broadway |
Broadway |
| 2016 | Broadway |
Manhattan Theatre Club Original Broadway Production Broadway |
| 2016 | Off-Broadway |
Theatre for a New Audience Repertory Off-Broadway |
The Father - 2016 Broadway Awards and Nominations
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Play | Frank Langella |
| 2016 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play | Florian Zeller |
| 2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Play | Frank Langella |
| 2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Broadway Play | Florian Zeller |
| 2016 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play | Frank Langella |
| 2016 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Florian Zeller |
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