The Glass Menagerie (starring Sally Field) NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (530)
See it if Casting choices by director Gold may seem jarring at first but it gives previously unexplored motivations for all characters; superb cast
Don't see it if No intermission means rest room strategy is necessary; subtle acting may not reach to rear of theatre
See it if You love Tennessee Williams and want to see a stripped down version all about the words. Also, the use of a handicapped actress is brilliant
Don't see it if You want to see a spectacle or a set. I think this production is smart and should be seen.
See it if you want to be absorbed in the text of Tennessee Williams.
Don't see it if you don't enjoy a fresh take on a classic piece
See it if You want to see an intelligent version of a great play. Minimal staging works. All 4 actors great. Emotional and engaging.
Don't see it if You have preconceived notions from poor reviews and attendance. You don't like bare bone sets.
See it if you love Sally Field, Tennessee Williams, classic plays with minimalistic yet bold interpretations
Don't see it if Seeing an actor trying to function with a severe physical disability makes you uncomfortable, dated language bothers you
See it if You love a good classic piece, celebrities on stage and powerful performances.
Don't see it if You have a small bladder. The show runs for 2.15 hours with no intermission.
See it if you want PHENOMENAL acting and embodiment of the characters, you haven't seen a Tennessee Williams' play in a theatre
Don't see it if you care about lighting design, you want a truly 'Tennessee Williams' play because Sam Gold has his own ideas that diverge from the 'usual
See it if Sally Field and Joe Mantello gives a great interpretation of classical roles played many times over. Sam Gold's direction is interesting.
Don't see it if you want a set. There is none.
Critic Reviews (59)
"Director Sam Gold seems to be operating in Ivo van Hove mode, trying too hard to put his own revisionist stamp on a classic. He has chosen to emphasize the comic over the poetic; I have never heard that much laughter at any previous production...Mantello's performance is very strong and dominates the evening...Gold’s take on the play is interesting, but distorts the piece too much for my taste."
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"The deep affection among the family is here thanks to soulful connections between Joe Mantello’s layered Tom and Sally Field’s somewhat clownish, rage-filled Amanda, the desperate mother. But Gold’s inconsistent, concept-driven direction obscure this bond and Williams’ themes of comforting lies versus harsh reality...It’s understandable that Gold would want to try a startlingly different tack...So a fresh approach is admirable, but why blast away all the poetry?"
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"Overall Gold has given us more of an in-your-face production in which one has to search for snatches of William’s poetry. His writing is what makes the play so sensitive. In this case the desire to stage it differently undercuts rather than enhances the drama which when well-done shimmers with sensitivity. Still, for those who have never seen 'The Glass Menagerie,' this is a chance to experience it, no matter how flawed the staging."
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“A stripped-down and finely acted production…Field is a marvel to see here. The earnest, doting instincts she brings to Amanda have been a hallmark of her most iconic on-screen roles…Gold’s bare-stage approach puts the focus on fine performances from the central trio...But it’s the play’s emotional turning point, a scene between Laura and her presumed gentleman caller, Jim (here played by Finn Wittrock), that doesn’t quite round the corner to heartbreak."
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"This reinvention brings some incredible new insights into the text yet also veers, at times, unrecognizably too far...Gold interprets the text a manner that may be confusing but he goes all in with it...The Jim and Laura scene was extraordinary. But it lived in another world from the rest of the play...Despite the flaws of the production, Field gave a dynamic performance...It was a lens that was beautifully unique...Gold made a noble risk that unfortunately didn’t pay off this time."
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"Like none we have seen before. The style is not poetic, the edges are not soft nor dreamlike, and the heart-shredding family dynamics are not literally placed in the St. Louis tenement that Williams set in the ’30s. And yet, the unspooling is as true to what Williams called a 'memory play' as any I have known. Consider this the indie version, if you need a label — timelessly contemporary and shot full of raw insight into past and future productions."
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"Every immaculately crafted moment of Gold’s staging rings as clear as it does true...Ferris’s brilliant performance anchors the whole show. It shouldn’t be so radical to see a disabled actor so central to a Broadway show, but it is, and Gold makes Ferris’s disability a focus in the most skillful, least patronizing way...In this raw, crisp, and haunting piece of theater, just as Williams intended, there remains for Tom and the other Wingfields just shards."
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"The casting of Mantello is a masterstroke and this production is the best I’ve ever seen...This stripped-down presentation has an emotional truthfulness and clarity that turns the play from a showcase for one actress into a work of drama unburdened by Southern floridness. Like glass held up to the light, it’s shot through with intelligence and nuance and is all the more powerful for it. I’ll be comparing all future productions I see to the memory of this one."
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