See it if you have a subscription to MTC
Don't see it if you like well acted, relevant plays.
See it if You like slow moving stories that are dated and have been done before.
Don't see it if You want to be entertained or enjoy yourself at the theater.
See it if Good acting. Good sh er pardon story. Creative set and lighting.
Don't see it if If you dont like a serious drama. If you want a comedy
See it if you love Sam Shepard. I found the script insipid and horrifying. I didn't enjoy the performances. FFL was a miss for me.
Don't see it if you want intelligent, insightful, engaging theater. Shocking plot for its own sake. Ugh.
See it if Even for $5, this was brutal
Don't see it if Wish I knew better before I went in.
See it if you want to see some gripping performances in an explosive, flawed modern classic.
Don't see it if Shepard writing at the height of his macho style does not thrill you. Read more
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See it if You love Sam Shepard and dark dramas.
Don't see it if You're not a Shepard fan and can't stand slowly paced, small-cast plays.
"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"Aukin and his actors hit all the right beats, punctuating the sexually charged action with the loud slamming of doors and bodies. But the heat only occasionally rises above a simmer, and despite all the tequila being gulped onstage, the whole thing feels a tad too correct."
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"The slamming, which produces a stereo boom you can feel in your organs, eventually becomes rote and numbing. As does much else in this staunch, uninvolving production, which features tempestuous performers in Nina Arianda and Sam Rockwell, but offers them not much more than glum platitudes on bad romance...The feeling nags that this was a production simply too small for Broadway. "
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" 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."
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"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."
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"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."
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