Was Utopia's Last Chapter Nirvana For Critics? Rounding out a trilogy that began last fall with
Voyage, the final chapter of
Tom Stoppard's epic
The Coast Of Utopia has finally landed with
Salvage opening at
Lincoln Center. Both
Voyage and
Shipwreck garnered glowing reviews. Most critics seemed to find the final act somewhat anticlimactic, but still praised the overall landmark effort.
Proclaiming it a "dazzling and wonderfully satisfying trilogy" in his four-star review is
Clive Barnes of
New York Post: "Looking back at Stoppard's wordy yet exhilarating dramatic tapestry, I'm amazed at how thrillingly this Lincoln Center company -- helped by
Jack O'Brien's alertly balanced staging -- has brought it off. (
Brían F.) O'Byrne, whose sensitive development of Herzen's character covers the entire span of
Voyage,
Shipwreck and
Salvage, fascinatingly provides the fulcrum of the trilogy. But it's unfair to single him out, since (
Ethan) Hawke has never been better than here as Bakunin, a cadging, shining-eyed monster of opportunistic anarchy."
Less enthusiastic about the concluding chapter is
Variety's
David Rooney: "Traveling with the drama's cast of exiles and emigres through to the conclusion is exhilarating, edifying and at times a little enervating. But even if the final chapter,
Salvage, is the weakest of the three plays, the overall achievement remains undiminished....Unlike the first two plays, the elegance and erudition of Stoppard's writing are undermined at times by the challenge of cramming so much information into a dramaturgical package, with characters often recapitulating events purely for the audience's benefit. All that aside, there's still more dazzling stagecraft in any one of these three Lincoln Center Theater productions than most companies can muster in several seasons."
Newsday's
Linda Winer appears to concur: "
Salvage...isn't remarkable for the one or two boggling visual moments that were the talk of its predecessors. The production...is as masterly as ever, again beginning with the sight of the aging Alexander Herzen in a turning chair that hovers high above the silken ravages of the sea. But this one's moodier, at times hallucinatory, as Stoppard hones in on Herzen, finally the main character among the many....Ethan Hawke, perhaps the biggest surprise of the trilogy, can show the lifelong arch of Bakunin, the overbearing, eager young aristocrat who becomes the equally overbearing anarchist.
Jennifer Ehle, so radiantly complex as Herzen's wife in
Shipwrecked, now plays the equally complicated but unyielding German governess."
Deeming the production "an ungodly mess"
and "heavenly spectacle,"
Ben Brantley of
The New York Times starts his review by focusing more on the trilogy itself: "Despite its status as the season’s ultimate snob ticket, a concert of clever historical name-dropping orchestrated to give middle-brow audiences the illusion of a brow lift,
The Coast of Utopia is as hot-blooded and teary-eyed as your average afternoon soap opera. I wouldn’t call it a major work of art. In literary terms I wouldn’t even rank it with Mr. Stoppard’s best....But as directed by Jack O’Brien and acted and designed by a stellar team of artisans,
Utopia is a major work of theatrical craftsmanship."
The Associated Press'
Michael Kuchwara also weighs in: "Rueful resignation isn't as dramatically exciting, so the Lincoln Center Theater production of
Salvage doesn't have the innate theatricality that propelled
Voyage and
Shipwreck, the first two-thirds of Stoppard's mammoth work. Yet that doesn't stop director Jack O'Brien and his amazing company of actors from breathing urgency into the demanding, sometimes dense conversations of these squabbling European firebrands in exile in Victorian England.... [T]he thoughtful and commanding Brian F. O'Byrne...is the rock who anchors much of the trilogy through its most meandering moments."
Is it a wonder that the marathon performances of the entire trilogy that begin this Saturday are one of New York City's hottest tickets?
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:Cleaning Up: Salvage Operation Begins Tonight On Broadway (February 18, 2007)
Did Critics See Ship Wreck Or Hit? (December 22, 2006)
Unstoppable: Stoddard's Shipwreck Coasts Into Opening Night (December 21, 2006)
Did Critics Enjoy Voyage's Ride? (November 28, 2006)
Coast Of Utopia Begins Broadway Voyage This Evening (November 27, 2006)
Labels: Critics' Capsule, Play, Salvage, Shipwreck, The Coast Of Utopia, Tom Stoppard, Voyage
Cleaning Up: Salvage Operation Begins Tonight On Broadway
Given the overwhelming critical acclaim for the first two portions, tonight's opening has become very eagerly anticipated. We'll learn tomorrow whether New York critics believe this Salvage operation measures up to the rest of the journey.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Related Stories:
Labels: Broadway, Opening Night, Play, Salvage, Shipwreck, The Coast Of Utopia, Tom Stoppard, Voyage
Did Critics Enjoy Voyage's Ride?Last evening,
Voyage -- the first leg of
Tom Stoppard's epic trilogy
The Coast Of Utopia -- opened at
Lincoln Center. The first "act" opened to mostly enthusiastic reviews.
Calling the first installment "exhilarating,"
Ben Brantley of
The New York Times says that: "
Voyage pulses with the dizzying, spring-green arrogance and anxiety of a new generation moving as fast as it can as it tries to forge a future that erases the past....
Voyage is paced and defined by the quicksilver changes of mood and conviction that come from being young in a time of flux -- by the feeling that everything and nothing is possible."
Going four for four stars in proclaiming
Voyage "thrilling,"
New York Post's
Clive Barnes praises: "[F]orget what you may have heard about the plays: There is no required reading list, only a willingness to accept art as wondrously disordered as life. Stoppard has hit upon an enthralling, little-known story and deftly welded it into a soap opera for the thinking classes....[E]normous praise is due to (
Billy) Crudup's mousy-looking but valiant sketch of the great Russian critic Belinsky; (
Brían F.) O'Byrne's centered revolutionary, Herzen; and the shining-faced (
Jennifer) Ehle as the doomed, Chekovian-like Bakunin sister, Liubov."
David Rooney of
Variety notes that despite the running time, the play is anything but arduous: "
Jack O'Brien has swept away all sense of trepidation, providing thrilling assurance that this brawny, brainy dissertation could not be in more capable hands. There's more talk than drama spread across Stoppard's extended canvas, which certainly requires concentration. But regardless of one's interest in 19th century Russian history, the novelistic play is a spry, witty and thoroughly intriguing account of men and ideas."
Proclaiming the production both "tantalizing" and "passionate," the Associated Press'
Michael Kuchwara also provides a positive review: "You'll need to put on your thinking cap for this Lincoln Center Theater production. But don't be intimidated by the parade of big yet mostly unfamiliar (unless you're an expert on 19th-century Russian intellectuals) names and the even bigger ideas that Stoppard presents. In a work so large, it takes a while to get your bearings -- particularly when a dozen or so major characters are introduced in a swirl of activity. The evening's hero is apparent from the outset. It is director Jack O'Brien who marshals a cast of more than 30 actors with the skill of a general commanding the troops."
While conceding that the work is "brainy and complex," New York
Daily News'
Joe Dziemianowicz is less enthusiastic: "
Voyage is certainly packed -- with characters, big ideas, stunning visuals and, alas, vast stretches that can be tedious and emotionally frigid....Not all of it is scintillating. Nor do we come to care about the characters, even as they die or are exiled. That's a problem.
Voyage ultimately feels less like a cohesive story than a series of snapshots. But the snapshots are impressive."
If these reviews are a harbinger of critiques to come,
The Coast Of Utopia may very well need to extend its marathon season beyond its current sold-out status.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:Coast Of Utopia Begins Broadway Voyage This Evening (November 27, 2006)
Labels: Broadway, Critics' Capsule, Play, The Coast Of Utopia, Tom Stoppard, Voyage
Coast Of Utopia Begins Broadway Voyage This EveningTonight,
Voyage -- the first part of
Tom Stoppard's mammoth
The Coast Of Utopia -- begins its journey on the Great White Way at the
Lincoln Center Theater at the Vivian Beaumont.
Directed by
Jack O'Brien, the trilogy will continue to unfold over the next couple of months in
Shipwreck and
Salvage. While the entire, sold-out marathons will extend to a full eight hours when fully presented in February,
Voyage consists of a mere three hours.
Lincoln Center describes
Voyage as:
Stoppard’s nod to (Anton) Chekhov set at the grand Russian countryside estate of the Bakunin family. Four eligible sisters are under the sway of their charismatic brother, Michael, who interferes in their lives, while fervently seeking a greater purpose in his own. As his political and philosophical journey unfolds, Bakunin’s compatriots will include Vissarion Belinsky, George Herwegh, Karl Marx, Nicholas Ogarev, Nicholas Stankevich, Ivan Turgenev and, of particular note, the visionary leader Alexander Herzen.
New York critics have traditionally heaped laurel after laurel upon Stoppard's previous works, so it will be quite interesting to see how well they receive the first leg of this odyssey with
Voyage.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Labels: Broadway, Opening Night, Play, The Coast Of Utopia, Voyage
