The Front Page NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (583)
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
See it if you want to see a lot of great actors all in one show (performances were uneven) you like broad comedy (usually at the expense of women)
Don't see it if you find stereotypical characters boring.
See it if You want to see some acting powerhouses on stage in this play. John Slattery is about the only good thing in this production.
Don't see it if Not willing to invest in a slow, stagnant play that is 2 hrs, 45 mins long. An audience full of people only there to clap for the stars .
See it if you enjoy lots of silly comedy revolving around the newspaper business in the '30s. You want to see big name stars at a reasonable price
Don't see it if you don't enjoy a weak very long remake of an award-winning old movie filled with silly repetitious humor Read more
See it if u must see theater w/ "buzz" & lots of hoopla. The setting, lighting, etc. are B'way worthy and the audience was primed for a good time, but
Don't see it if while the pace is intense, the tone is wrong. Slattery and Lane (who arrives mid-Act 2) are performing like a vaudeville act from the 1920s.
See it if you want to see the starriest cast on Broadway and have a few laughs.
Don't see it if you want a great comedy or a profound experience.
See it if you're a die-hard Nathan Lane or John Slattery fan or if you go to the theater to see really great set and lighting design.
Don't see it if you are looking for a clever, entertaining and belly-laugh funny play. The sound design and blocking make it hard to hear many of the lines
See it if You want to see a great cast and scenic design.
Don't see it if you won't, it closed.
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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