See it if you love shows about high stakes situations and really emotional dialogue
Don't see it if you're triggered by rape or sexual abuse. The show focuses heavily on it and can be very upsetting
See it if you are interested in a play that confronts difficult topics head on. Jeff and Michelle lay all their emotions bare & leave you struggling.
Don't see it if you cannot handle difficult emotional situations. This is complicated material.
See it if You enjoy great acting and very challenging subject matter.
Don't see it if You are squeamish about confronting the disturbing issue of child sexual abuse in a complex way. You are looking for a light entertainment.
See it if a thrilling high-wire act of playwriting and acting and production. spare, elegant, forceful and intelligent
Don't see it if if you find troubling content too difficult to bear emotionally
See it if You like hard hitting, in your face drama. Perfection! Tough to watch at times. The stuff that nightmares are made of. That's good theatre!
Don't see it if You can't handle real life ugly situations.
See it if you enjoy great acting--especially Michelle Williams
Don't see it if the idea of sex with a young teen disturbs you
See it if If you're looking to be disturbed by clever writing, dark humor, and exuberant storytelling by two incredible performers;
Don't see it if If you're looking for something light or even comedic;
See it if See it if you have an open mind about subject matter, but want to see a masterful exhibition of acting skill, especially from Jeff Daniels.
Don't see it if you do not have an open mind. The subject matter is very rough, but the end product is justification.
"It’s a disturbing set-up, but my shock is reserved for the free pass that so many have been giving to a revival that feels like little more than a star-driven exercise in showy acting and goosed-up dramatic tension...The revival of 'Blackbird' feels neither articulate nor authentic...Daniels and Williams have a long track record of impressive performances, and Mantello is one of our premiere theater directors. It’s safe to say that “Blackbird” doesn’t represent their best work."
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"There are no weapons on display here – no knives, no guns, no stage blood – but this is the most lacerating play on Broadway this season. It leaves marks – on the audience, who may find some moments almost unbearably painful to watch, and on the actors too, who appeared drained and devastated at the curtain call. Despite the evocations of the title, in this 'Blackbird,' no one gets to be free."
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"Harrower carefully calibrates his 90-minute drama, which takes place in real time. About every 10 minutes, he shifts the ground under these two characters’ very unstable footing...Williams means to give a big, bravura performance that starts at a white-hot pitch and descends into near madness...Her performance as Una is mannered to the point of distraction. The result is an imbalance in performances that seriously undermines the drama between an unrepentant offender and his lost victim."
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"High-octane, provocative, brutally-lacerating drama is back on Broadway with David Harrower's 'Blackbird.' Jeff Daniels and Michelle Williams give frenzied, uncompromising performances as a pair of irremediably-ruined souls frozen by a bubbling mix of guilt, retribution, revenge and what seem to be dangerous crosscurrents of desire... It is a dynamite play in a dynamite production with dynamite performances."
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"Jeff Daniels brings new comprehension and maturity to the role...In testament to David Harrower’s insightful writing, judgment about the immoral coupling doesn’t prevent one’s sympathy for the man. Daniels appears whole and credible. Michelle Williams, however, does not...Without equal push-pull, the piece cannot be successful...Director Joe Mantello, whose talents I have always appreciated, seems to have achieved only half of what he set out to do. "
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"'Blackbird' presents a powerful story, one that is full of the sort of complicated questions that often remain unspoken to the point of being taboo...Daniels is in his element playing a flawed, middle-aged man at his moment of reckoning. He does so with impressive and believable sincerity...While Daniels disappears into his role, Williams’ performance feels fraught with effort. And maybe, that’s part of the point. If it seems as though these two are operating on different planes, they are."
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"Refreshing and instructive. It's also, mind you, as stinging and squirm-inducing as any presidential debate, while offering more intelligence, sophistication and compassion...Williams brings more of that slow-burning, nervous intensity to Una...Daniels' performance, which was superb nine years ago, is better here — at once more vital and more aching in its weariness, and still beautifully shaded...The play, which ends with a piercing twist, also seems to resonate with more force."
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"Harrowing drama...Whatever doubts I had about Jeff Daniels’ return to a character he played Off-Broadway, this riveting, visceral, uncompromising revival makes misgivings irrelevant. Again directed by the peerless Joe Mantello and now co-starring the extraordinary Michelle Williams, the drama feels more psychologically profound than what had earlier seemed an admirably austere but stagy 80-minute answer to the voyeuristic question raised by such wildly unseemly couplings."
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