Fool For Love NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (174)
See it if For theatre that grabs you by the throat and won't let go. Sam Shepard fans. Cast was great. I felt smacked in the face, but that's not bad.
Don't see it if Not for the faint of heart. Theatre was a bit large, but eh. If you don't like Sam Shepard. You want the happy vapid musical.
See it if Great performances from the cast. Wonderfully written.
Don't see it if you won't, it closed.
See it if A drama with flawed characters.
Don't see it if Not much happens in this play. Was bored
See it if You like good acting
Don't see it if You want a musical
See it if You love the movie and want to see how it's adapted for the stage.
Don't see it if You aren't a fan of the movie.
See it if you don't mind the conflict being all conflict, you like plays that are a little weird, you don't need a sugary sweet ending
Don't see it if you're tired, have a short attention span, you need a lot of rising and falling action to stay engaged
See it if You love Sam Shepard, Nina Arianda or Sam Rockwell.
Don't see it if You have recently loved another production of "Fool for Love." I did and thought that this production was awkwardly directed and very cold.
See it if you're into moody, atmospheric shows with solid performances.
Don't see it if you want something light.
Critic Reviews (58)
"There isn't the down-and-dirty chemistry that makes the fate of the lovers' long and conflicted relationship feel inevitable and dangerous. They seem more like beautiful roughhousing puppies than people caught in the push/pull torrents of a forbidden relationship...The violence feels phony and it's hard to get overheated about the fate of the characters."
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"Director Daniel Aukin has molded the cast into an excellent ensemble: his two leads are marvelous. The tech elements were also strong...But the play? Today it fails to shock. And once that twist was made clear, the play became less and less compelling."
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"With a running time of just 75 minutes, 'Fool for Love' is a play you anticipate will proceed in a head-long rush. The revival, under the direction of Daniel Aukin, moves at a more measured pace, which is not to the work’s advantage."
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"'Fool for Love' is classic Shepard: Family dysfunction, a Western setting and some dark and twisted stuff leading up to a big reveal (or two). It’s all handled with an enormous amount of skill and affection -- the 75 minutes fly by, and we feel as if we know these folks intimately."
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"'Fool for Love' is a bright example of Sam Shepard at his best, and if you’re not familiar with his work, this production is a ‘must-see.’ If you do already know and admire him, you won’t be disappointed in this rendering with a first-rate cast, produced and directed by Daniel Aukin, who has all of it under control. You can feel the heat in this cabin, you can see the dust rise as tempers flare, and the battle rages."
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"We know these tarts-Eddie and May-because at some point in our lives, we have been these tarts—perhaps not to their degree of volatility, but we have foolishly stayed with the toxic lover who is obviously wrong for us but too intoxicating to leave. Manhattan Theater Club’s production is simmering and sultry thanks to this fine cast whose only addiction is a commitment to quality acting."
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"Rockwell is the best reason, but hardly the only one, to see this revival...The director strikes just the right notes of urgency and uncertainty; even if you've seen 'Fool for Love' before, you feel as if you have no idea what's coming next. The play builds, thrillingly, to an off-stage fire that bathes the set in a warm red glow — and, indeed, if ever a production deserved the adjective 'combustible,' it's this one."
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"Daniel Aukin directs his cast with a firm hand, but unfortunately the problem here is not the acting or the direction; it is the vastness of the stage. Although it is admirable to have a Shepard play presented on Broadway, the play has very strict confines in its parameters...The expanse of the Friedman stage, or for that matter any Broadway theater stage, makes it lose its claustrophobic sensibility and, in the process, that desperate tension that is so essential to this play is lost."
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