Blackbird NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (602)
See it if You enjoy great acting, writing and directing. An absorbing tale with a shocking denouement.
Don't see it if Stories of abusive, co-dependent relationships make you uncomfortable.
See it if youre a jeff daniels and michelle williams fan, want a serious, thought provoking play that blurs the lines between right and morally wrong
Don't see it if You do not like serious content, dealing with difficult topics that are taboo to discuss openly in theater
See it if You love a great story that'll really leave you torn by the characters and who to root for!
Don't see it if You're sensitive to subject matter- it revolves around pedophilia.
See it if you want to see 2 of the best performances this season! Stellar cast makes this difficult emotional drama leap off the stage.
Don't see it if taboo subjects and disturbing drama make you want to leave the theatre. This is about as dark as it gets.
See it if This is a very powerful play with two powerhouse performances. This is the second time I saw it and it was riveting both times.
Don't see it if You don't like very dramatic plays with dark themes.
See it if You like beautifully acted drama that delivers a punch.
Don't see it if You don't like subject matter than is dark and can be depressing
See it if brilliant "she said, he said" piece of writing. Great acting, good ending.
Don't see it if you can't rub two thoughts together.
See it if you want to see two actors battling it out at their prime.
Don't see it if you don't like being uncomfortable in the theater. It's a thrilling show with complicated characters.
Critic Reviews (53)
"It seems inappropriate, and perhaps disrespectful, to praise the play and director Joe Mantello's production with the usually enthusiastic accolades a reviewer would bestow upon such an expertly achieved eighty minutes of theatre...In varying degrees, Williams and Daniels, both excellent, effectively confront the audience to feel sympathy for their characters as it becomes increasingly clear what their emotions are for each other."
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"Nine years on from its New York premiere, Harrower's script has lost none of its provocative power, its ability to leave deep and lasting wounds...Nearly a decade older, Daniels is even more at home inside Ray's dispirited, shriveled soul than before...Williams is a nervy technician who builds her performance on a series of effects that a lesser actress might not be able to pull off...'Blackbird' seems to me a modern expression of tragedy."
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"With the production of David Harrower's 'Blackbird,' both the victim and her victimizer would be doing everyone, and the cause, a favor by shutting up and flying away...This Joe Mantello mounting of the play remains one of the most painfully overwrought of anything I've ever seen...There's nothing inherently wrong with a premise this thin, but it can't stay thin, let alone be directed and acted that way...The entire thing comes across as a gigantic gag."
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"Now 'Blackbird' has arrived at Broadway’s Belasco Theatre again directed by
Mantello with Daniels but partnered by Michelle Williams in this two hander.
Unaccountably, Mantello has chosen to stage the play differently this
time. The new rhythms of the play undermine it somewhat. What was once a
steadily rising action is now a series of fits and starts."
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"There's nothing been there/done that about this revival...Michelle Williams is a worthy partner for Daniels. Her Una is a more immediately aggressive, still wounded victim of her preteen sexualization than I recall Pill to have been. This has also made Daniels make Ray come across a harder, tougher and yet more nervous opponent in this cat-and-mouse game...Even if you knew what that twisty ending was all about, you'd still leave pondering the whys and wherefores of Una and Ray's relationship."
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"Harrower and director Joe Mantello have crafted a gripping, tense drama unfolding in real time that doesn’t indulge any wasted moments. They let the actors and the dialogue do all the heavy lifting and they do so without judgment, leaving the audience to decide if they are sickened, moved, saddened or all of the above...'Blackbird' is a gripping portrait of a taboo love story done with unflinching honesty that is brutal and unforgettable."
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"One of the most potent and fierce dramas of the season…This two-person drama wallops Broadway with brute force…No moment is wasted in getting to know these characters from start to finish…These actors never run into scene trouble in this tour de force of a play. They let the masterful language by playwright David Harrower take them where the play says they must go…I was glued by moment one...Run to see this play that is enormously brave and masterfully produced."
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"'Blackbird,' directed with intense force by Joe Mantello, grabs hold of us and does not give us a chance to get out of this without some squirming in our seats...We would like to see the simplicity here, so we can be more comfortable, but thankfully, Harrower has no intention for comfort...This is not a play to go into lightly, but I applaud the bravery of all involved. It is upsetting, disturbing, and doesn’t allow us to make easy judgments."
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