Fool For Love NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (174)
See it if you crave nearly first-hand immersion in emotional, relationship, and moral conflict in theatre, an experience that will haunt you longtime
Don't see it if you would rather sit opposite your son after Thanksgiving dinner watching football on tv than listen to him express his goals, dreams, loves Read more
See it if You like to see great plays
Don't see it if You don't understand good writing
See it if Want to see Nina and Sam play emotional scales from top to bottom seamlessly and authentically. Their every pose and expression riveted me
Don't see it if I guess if you're bothered by tempestuous relationships. I don't understand the "dated" complaints - tight play, perfectly done. See it!
See it if you want to see a pair of marvelous performances in a deceptively experimental, challenging, and wild play about obsession and family
Don't see it if the cowboy mythos does nothing for you
See it if you want to see great stars in the show
Don't see it if you are not into plays
See it if you like Sam Shephard, Sam Rockwell, and Nina Arianda.
Don't see it if you are looking for a spectacle.
See it if see more
Don't see it if see more Read more
See it if You like Shepard's work, like his characters and their personal struggles. You want to see intense theater.
Don't see it if On stage anger, rage, scares you. You want something light.
Critic Reviews (58)
"Love as a battlefield on which nobody wins has seldom been mapped as thrillingly as it is in Daniel Aukin’s definitive revival of this bruising drama. Nina Arianda and Sam Rockwell exude the sort of chemistry from which nuclear meltdowns are made. Every ingredient that’s gone into this offering has been measured, sifted and distilled to create the most potent combination conceivable. When I saw an earlier version of this production, I figured it couldn’t get much better. I was wrong."
Read more
"Daniel Aukin’s painterly diorama production benefits from key support from a fine Tom Pelphrey as May’s bemused beau and Gordon Joseph Weiss as a spectral old-timer who may have fathered both fractious lovers (there’s a whisper of Greek tragedy amidst the tumbleweeds). But it’s Rockwell and Arianda who most strike the sparks, blow on the embers and get the fire raging."
Read more
"This postmodern absurdist period piece, impeccably staged by director Daniel Aukin, provides the kind of thrill you get from watching a well-executed building demolition. We see each explosive put into place, each timer set, so that when the inevitable implosion finally occurs, you marvel at the controlled devastation."
Read more
"When the withholding and revelation are handled as adroitly as they are in Daniel Aukin’s terrific staging, 'Fool for Love' acquires the force of Greek tragedy...The production, already excellent when presented at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, has only improved. Physically, it is just about perfect."
Read more
"Ms. Arianda has returned to Broadway in 'Fool for Love.' It is fully worthy of her gifts, and the results are—almost literally—explosive. I wish Arianda had worked harder on her accent, but that doesn’t matter too much: Every other part of her performance is scaldingly, unimpeachably real...The explosion occurs offstage shortly before the end of the play, and even if you know 'Fool for Love' going in, I guarantee it’ll take you by surprise. That’s how good this revival is."
Read more
"The two stars are superb in Daniel Aukin’s straightforward production but I still think that they’re acting in different shows. They throw off plenty of heat — but not at each other, and that’s fatal to a play that insists we believe in the intensity of the relationship."
Read more
"Rockwell delivers the goods — and so does costar Nina Arianda — in Broadway’s combustible revival of 'Fool for Love...' Daniel Aukin directs a well-paced production and guides the cast to juicy performances."
Read more
" This may not be the definitive production of this iconic play, but director Daniel Aukin has done a thoroughly professional job...And if laid-back Rockwell and body-conscious Arianda don’t quite have their acts together, Shepard is served well enough to satisfy his fan base."
Read more