The Front Page NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (583)
See it if you like a funny, campy show. Good acting, very funny. good staging and directing.
Don't see it if if you don't like fast pace comedy.
See it if you like old movies. This felt like an old movie but with some of the best Broadway stars all on the same stage. Time flew. I loved it.
Don't see it if you have no appreciation for "old school". There's not a lot of gimmicks here, just good (emphasis on good) old fashioned acting.
See it if Nathan Lane is masterful. The whole cast is stunning. Tough through Act 1 and you'll enjoy it a lot.
Don't see it if Throwback pieces from the 30's aren't your thing.
See it if You enjoy old/classic plays with big, starry casts and rat-a-tat newsroom comedy.
Don't see it if You find older plays to be dated and only valuable to watch for the productions themselves. N.B., the first act is almost all exposition.
See it if you want to see masterful direction of a fast-paced comedy.
Don't see it if you're expecting the show to have anything to say. It's an entertaining evening of great performances but it's not a thinker.
See it if You want to see a great cast in a fun, enjoyable production.
Don't see it if You want a contemporary play. You're uncomfortable w/old-fashioned ethnic & gender attitudes.
See it if you are thrilled to have a wonderful distraction from our election season; you like funny, old fashioned comedy with a large, great cast.
Don't see it if you don't like comedy, shtick, or old fashioned revivals; if long shows don't hold your interest.
See it if the acting is good but the show is so ridiculous and dated it just doesn't play well in these times.
Don't see it if This show is not worth seeing. Although the actors are excellent this is not the material to see them in. Read more
Critic Reviews (50)
"Diverting. Pretty darn good. At moments, very funny indeed...But aside from those moments when Lane is all but setting fire to the stage, it is not the stuff of banner headlines...The problem is that in this production the dirt isn’t so much slung as spun, carefully and thoughtfully, so you can trace the arc of a joke before it lands. The show is pointedly and self-consciously funny, savoring its own raucous wit, which paradoxically means that it just isn’t as funny as it should be."
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"A 5,000-volt revival...Whipped into a hellacious comic frenzy by one of the best acting ensembles you and I may ever see. Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur’s 1928 evisceration of the newspaper racket is a summit of American screwball comedy...Director Jack O’Brien’s pedal-to-the-metal production is astonishingly true to the spirit and letter of the script...O’Brien’s pacing is masterful, guiding us from belly laughs to a sudden, sickening drop in our stomachs. What seals the deal is the acting."
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"A top-notch production...The slow build, like the play overall, is a masterpiece of construction, the kind that for a hundred reasons shouldn’t work today, but that under O’Brien’s nervy direction undeniably does...Often thought of as a wit or a clown, Lane is really a time bomb onstage, with no fuse and an infinite payload...But one of the very deep pleasures of 'The Front Page' is the chance it provides to watch a large ensemble of character actors do what they’re so good at."
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"O’Brien, who utilizes the best of what Broadway has to offer—a big stage, a solid budget, slick production values—has not only created a milieu in which the performers can shine; he allows them the space to establish their characterizations...It takes a director of O’Brien’s skill to keep all those hoops in the air without losing sight of the story, or of the internal lives of the characters...Although Scott has relatively few scenes, she does a lot to make the play we’re watching credible."
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"Even if not every element in director Jack O'Brien's lavishly cast production hits the mark, this deluxe Broadway revival nonetheless is crackling entertainment...But the play only really starts firing on all cylinders once Lane enters...Lane elevates everyone around him, including Slattery...The galvanizing force of Lane's performance erases any concerns about the production's unevenness."
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"The first act is both over-long and too broad. It’s flat where it should be fizzy...Barking arias of sarcastic, arsenic-laced insults, Lane is like a human defibrillator whose presence single-handedly puts the production back on course...But you’ll have to be patient waiting for Lane to arrive to really enjoy it...It’s smart, subversive, and seemingly timeless. Too bad that this time around it’s also an ensemble comedy that feels like a one-man show."
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"Drawing on a starry cast top-lined by Nathan Lane and John Slattery, Jack O’Brien directs an impeccable revival that delights in the tasteless vulgarity of that fabled era...The situation offers a variety of opportunities for farcical comedy, and if O’Brien missed any one of them, I failed to catch it. The production is as close to perfection as it comes...Count yourself lucky if you scored a seat. You won’t forget it."
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"Slack and lackluster, a case study in how to get a good play wrong. Given the high quality of the cast, it’s surprising how ineffective this 'Front Page' is...The biggest problem of all is that O’Brien has softened the tungsten-hard tone...O’Brien’s 'Front Page' is played for laughs, not truth, and that’s why it falls so flat...As for Lane, he’s great. Too great, really...Suddenly you see what was missing up to that point, and realize why you’d come close to nodding off mere minutes before."
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