Burn This NYC Reviews and Tickets

“There's no getting around the fact that Wilson's 1987 play is one of his minor works. And, in this production, it's looking rather long in the tooth. In fact, it's something of a puzzlement...It is built around a romance of opposites so forced as to beggar belief. It also feels wildly out of sync with the #MeToo moment...Overall, Mayer's direction emphasizes the script's comic side, which keeps the audience entertained while never quite addressing the prickly problem of its central romance.”
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"Plenty of sparks...Unfortunately, the fire is largely confined to the unglued coke-addled character at the play's center, enacted with eye-popping abandon by Driver, while the rest of the production appears to be wrapped in asbestos...Wilson's failure to provide anything but the skimpiest details about the characters is made all the more problematic by Mayer's too-light directorial hand...Overall, this is a play that is filled with unanswered questions...A frustratingly unfulfilling evening.”
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“A facile but overdrawn comedy-drama which is highly entertaining much of the time, with too much of that time spent on wild theatrics and glib characters cracking wise...Mayer stages the play efficiently, under the circumstances. What the play needs, it seems, is the severe editing and trimming that you can’t easily accomplish with a revival of a play by a deceased playwright.”
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“Russell and Driver possess precious little chemistry in Michael Mayer’s tepid revival...Driver’s a veritable force here...And he seems to have a genuine rapport with...Russell, who’s perhaps too inhibited...Despite what the promos for this revival would have you believe, the actors playing Pale and Anna don’t necessarily require house-on-fire chemistry. Wilson didn’t write a smoldering love story. He wrote a romantic comedy—and what they need is a burning need for each other.”
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“There’s a tempest being whipped up nightly...where a ferociously good Driver is starring opposite Russell...Driver delivers a dazzling whirlwind of a performance...Which is all to the good, because the production never coheres into an emotionally compelling whole...Russell is not entirely adept at transmitting the delicate subtext in Wilson’s dialogue...With Driver so forcefully dominating the evening, it gives a masterly depiction of half a relationship.”
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"It takes far too long for Pale, Wilson's most outrageous and flamboyant creation, to arrive on the scene. For another, the premise of the play requires Anna to be overly reserved and subdued, in contrast with Pale's constantly explosive character. The customarily sure-fire director Michael Mayer somehow seems to have accentuated those problems with lethargic consequences."
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“Written in the 80s, when the AIDS crisis was at its peak, playwright Wilson’s exploration into this genre surely had more impact when it opened on Broadway...Mayer skillfully and cleverly plays it all to the hilt allowing for the silliness of Larry’s character to bloom large against the combustible and eventual surprisingly tender side of Pale. There are many spellbinding moments and some lulls. But you will leave the Hudson Theatre emotionally drained after two and a half hours.”
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“Once onstage, Pale is the only character you see, Driver the only actor you watch. He roars, he whispers, he prowls, plumbing the depths of grief, finding nuance and humor in an unpredictable and unsettling character. Just when you think you know Pale; Driver unpeels yet another layer...It is absolutely thrilling...While Uranowitz and Furr manage admirably, I'm sorry to say Russell falls short....Ultimately, this play, this performance is all about Driver."
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