To Kill a Mockingbird (Broadway) NYC Reviews and Tickets

"Sorkin has written a new play, and it’s characteristically taut and nimble, fluid and funny, with plenty to meditate on and argue about. Its goal is to speak audibly about 2018 and—sometimes poignantly, sometimes more heavy-handedly—it succeeds...Sher and his designers have created a shifting, breathing, gorgeously orchestrated world, and while the top-billed Daniels is indeed lighting up the stage as the story’s iconic lawyer, every member of the ensemble shines alongside him."
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"The drama has been reworked so that the court case against Robinson is the frame for the whole play...The wrinkle is that Sorkin is very obviously worried about Trump, and about what the current political dispensation means for white folks of all political and ethical stripes...’To Kill a Mockingbird’ is a showcase for the competing liberal views of the races, depicting them in a kind of tortured but ever-improving dance.”
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"It's to Sorkin's credit that he lets the contemporary parallels emerge naturally, without hitting us over the head, in a transfixing act of theatrical storytelling graced by exceptional ensemble acting. Perhaps the most notable achievement of this thoughtful adaptation and makes us hang on every word as if experiencing the story for the first time...Even the riskiest choices pay off...This is theatrical storytelling so assured and involving it's hard to imagine anyone not being mesmerized."
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"A grotesque caricature of Lee’s novel, one at which anyone who loved 'To Kill a Mockingbird' as a child will take offense—as well they should...Mr. Sorkin has taken Atticus Finch and turned him into a naïve fool...In addition to perverting its spirit, Mr. Sorkin has done an inept job of putting it on the stage...Save for Adam Guettel’s homespun incidental music and a handful of strong performances, nothing about this 'Mockingbird' is any good at all."
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“Overwritten by Sorkin the way he overwrites everything, lacking the tenderness, detailed observations and nuance that were hallmarks of Harper Lee...The new Broadway version left me underwhelmed and disappointed. But even though it lacked the impact I hoped for, my reservations are minor compared with the joy I feel that a major work of literature is being felt and argued and revisited. The production has shortcomings, but they pale in the light of a work this rewarding.”
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"It’s useful to have an actor of a certain gold-plated integrity like Daniels when you take on a piece as deeply embedded in the American consciousness as 'To Kill a Mockingbird'...To build a play in 2018 on these notions requires a writer like Sorkin who can toggle between the radically different mind-set of 1934, when the story takes place; 1960, when the novel was published; and today...Director Bartlett Sher has assembled a terrific cast."
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"Genuinely radical and thoroughly gripping...Sorkin has written a 'Mockingbird' that fits this riven American moment. And the director, Bartlett Sher, has felt little need to assuage with sentimentality...Sher did not need to turn the character Bob Ewell into so broad a villain. But Sorkin did have to add agency to the African-American characters whom Lee gave little voice...This new version pulses with relevancy...It has the capacity to change how America sees this story for good."
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"Sorkin's reworking moves as confidently as it speaks even if it doesn’t completely add up dramatically. To adapt a high school classic to the stage one must take ownership...Quarrel all you want with the liberties that are taken, Sorkin, Sher and an impeccable cast have created something provocatively fresh...That the roles of the children are played by adult actors isn’t at all an issue. It’s the writing that occasionally lets the youth down."
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“Nearly 60 years after its...debut, the story is remarkably relevant, emotionally rich — and a bit manipulative...Sorkin takes a non-linear, theatrical approach in this telling...Strong performances, especially from Keenan-Bolger, whose Scout lights up the stage with warmth...Less successful is the busy staging.”
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"'To Kill a Mockingbird' draws its power in direct relation to how much it deviates from a novel that holds a sacrosanct place on the shelf of American classics. Sorkin may have adhered to the letter of the restrictions placed upon him, but he has violated their spirit, and his play is all the better for it...Sorkin has the right director in Bartlett Sher, whose patient, slow-building approach allows the drama to detonate in its own time. Sher has assembled an extraordinary company of players."
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"It has been well publicized that the Harper Lee estate filed a lawsuit in February 2018 alleging that the play deviated too much from the novel. They should not have worried. As directed by Bartlett Sher, Sorkin's astutely scripted 'To Kill a Mockingbird' with Jeff Daniels as Atticus Finch is a magnificent and moving theatrical experience that treats the novel with respect and dignity. The additions and changes from the novel only make the material more stage worthy."
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"Any new dramatization of the iconic Lee novel calls for some drastic diddling with text.. Sorkin has managed to do so dynamically, without any disrespect to either the novel or the movie...Probably this production's most drastic, and to my surprise and delight, most effective change from previous dramatizations is the casting of adult actors to play the Finch children...Sher also draws terrific performances from other members of the large cast."
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"A spectacle of such simplicity and straightforwardness that it would be impossible not to fall under its subtle charm and delicate intricacies...To see the proceedings through these adult children’s eyes is to feel the dark weight of realization, and the uneasy disturbing truth of the world they and us are living in...Sorkin has done Harper Lee an honor, rising her already perfect blend of storytelling and keen morality up to a higher, tighter, and stronger level."
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"Riveting storytelling…Several of Sorkin's changes made it impossible for me to see this Broadway version…as the definitive dramatization turns Harper Lee's novel into a detective story, a courtroom drama, political commentary…and satisfying theater,"
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"Even with its drawbacks, Sher's production gives theatregoers willing to shell out up to $179 for an orchestra seat a satisfactory return for their investment: a powerfully dramatic story, with emotional depth, comic relief, potent performances led by a world-class star giving his best in an iconic role, visual dynamics, directorial imagination, and social relevance. It's why, when the tag line, 'All rise,' is spoken, nearly everyone does."
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"The production is of a high standard: beautifully designed and lit, well acted, and with just the right balance of pathos, humor and outrage. What’s missing from Aaron Sorkin’s new adaptation is the novel’s vividly described community, or the sense that the story is just as much about Scout’s coming of age as it is about the crusade by Atticus, her father...Refreshingly old-fashioned yarn — this is meant in a good way — but lovers of the book will miss its idiosyncratic tone."
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"I had trouble adjusting at first to the southern accents, and also, the staging by Bartlett Sher seemed awfully busy flitting back and forth between the courtroom and other venues. But eventually I adjusted to that too. Putting Harper Lee’s long popular novel on stage was a challenge to Sorkin, given the narrative and character demands. But I am happy to report that his writing has succeeded admirably in capturing the essence of Lee’s work with strong dramatic impact."
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“Sorkin’s Maycomb looks the same, and stretches of his script sound the same as the novel and movie...This Atticus, these black characters, remain in 1933, but have been imagined for us in an era of Ferguson...Sher’s direction is too languid: the tension of the book and film is missing...Sorkin is speaking for and to us, a modern audience...But he is also lessening...off-setting, the injustices of a specific historical period, as viewed by a white writer of that time.”
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“The Atticus on stage here is more Sorkin’s creature than Lee’s...Sorkin’s efforts at adding complexity feel so strenuous that he might have been better off writing an original play...Sher’s staging also suffers from conventional dramatic weaknesses...Though Daniels does his best to get to grips with Sorkin’s muddled Atticus, he doesn’t show enough charisma in the courtroom...Those flaws and Sorkin’s hubris conspire to suck the life out of this ‘Mockingbird.'”
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“Peck was admirable as the character in the book and film, but Sorkin's country lawyer with a moral backbone that evolves. Daniels understands and communicates the layers of Atticus in this Broadway production. The sharp large cast is on target and brilliantly directed by Bartlett Sher...It is an uplifting, beautifully delivered production of American values at a time we could use it.”
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""It flatters one's illusions that racism as a phenomenon is southern and poor, surely not part of the lives of a Clinton-voting Broadway crowd. Alabama, the state that recently almost elected a pedophile to the U.S. Senate, is an easy bugaboo and one that excuses us from self-examination; we are assured there is no Bob Ewell in any of us."
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“It's impossible to know whether the production's significant flaws are due to the (quite wonderful) creative team being hamstrung by the estate...But what we do know is what's onstage, and what's onstage is often tedious and preachy. Worse...it traffics in stereotypes...This is a very unsophisticated portrayal of race in America. When it comes to theater, there's a lot out there that does this better.”
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"A gripping, deeply moving piece of theatre...The play begins with the trial...Dramatically, this gives the play a terrific sense of drive...This gracefully directed production has several neat conceits, one of which is to cast adults in the children’s roles...It could be confusing, but the performances are winning enough to carry it through...Sorkin’s vigorous version, arriving at a time when the US is at its most ethnically divided in decades, fully demonstrates why it is still a necessary work."
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“Sorkin has kept the principal players and setting intact...What has changed, however, is the dialogue and Atticus Finch...Atticus’ saintliness borders on the psychotic...The dialogue is another issue...Sher, the director, hasn’t so much directed the play and given it any focus as put the characters and scenes handed to him into motion. A lot could have been edited from certain scenes, some scenes eliminated completely, and some scenes kept intact as the novel intended.”
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"I estimate that about 40% of the dialogue is Sorkin’s alone – and nearly 100% of it is riveting...Sorkin has occasionally replaced but more often has augmented what Lee and Foote had written...Sorkin’s adaptation, which doesn’t just cannibalize what his previous authors had written. Sorkin has occasionally replaced but more often has augmented what Lee and Foote had written. All those adapting should take Sorkin as their inspiration."
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"A great work of American theater...The cast is powerfully, convincingly, alive, both in Scout’s memory as she narrates and for us as these actors fully inhabit their roles...Daniels is splendid. He has added a trace of weakness and a whiff of shame to the lovable, admirable character...Sorkin’s script is deft as well as fine."
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“The plethora of humor throughout the evening masks the pain and displeasure behind what the nexus of the play is about and it helps the two hours and 45 minutes move along smoothly...As far as the acting goes, they are all sensational but the night belonged to Keenan-Bolger...Sorkin gives us a great book and does not overtly accentuate the deep, depressing story line...Instead, he chooses humor and just the right amount of despair and desperation.”
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“There is so much to admire in this beautiful production, from the source material to the adaptation, from the design to the direction, from the ensemble to the supporting cast. But 'To Kill a Mockingbird' simply would not work without a perfect Atticus Finch. Daniels is just that. This is a quiet, humble, profoundly intense tour de force performance...A performance that people will talk about for years to come...A play people will talk about for years to come. Don't miss this one.”
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"It’s a tricky, balancing act and Sorkin — in tandem with dynamic director Sher and a flawless acting ensemble — never loses sight of making Lee’s tale thrillingly alive on stage. Brimming with humor, generous heart and gritty provocation, 'To Kill a Mockingbird' is as timely as it is timeless...There’s genuine daring in this production...Sorkin lunges headlong into the fray. And, under Sher’s urgent direction, the experience is electrifying...Unmissable and unforgettable."
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“What is up on the Shubert Theatre’s stage feels much more Sorkin than Lee to me, and not in a good way...It didn’t help that Finch was played by Daniels...His every moment on stage was compelling yet not at all evocative...I also felt too aware of Rudin and Sorkin’s attempts to manufacture relevance...In many scenes this production delivered...But the production was compromised from the start by the mismatch of writer and subject.”
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"Mr. Sher has made sure that every movement, every perfectly cast face, every stage picture and costume tells the story so precisely that it would do so even without words...Very effective; Mr. Sorkin apparently trusted that the actors, working with Mr. Sher, would fill in the blanks, and they do...It’s what happens in the gap between the old and new storytelling styles, as Mr. Sorkin tries to kill two mockingbirds with one stone, that gives me pause."
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"The play’s ambivalent approach to Atticus is satisfying but also sometimes glib...And despite Sorkin’s best efforts every righteous decision engenders new potential critiques...Yet the effort is commendable, and the execution is exemplary. The elegant production is stately but not stodgy...If Sorkin’s adaptation lacks the subtlety and plain-spokenness of Lee’s novel, it has moments of old-fashioned power and others of surprising tenderness."
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"While Lee’s vivid snapshot of the Great Depression-era Deep South is its own valuable time capsule, the shifting sands of race and justice in America is well served by at least some new perspective...Even with all its added Sorkinisms, there’s still something firmly classic about 'Mockingbird;' it’s essentially a white-savior story where the savior fails, as nobly as he can... A time-honored tale, skillfully told."
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"The ever-likable Daniels, whose casting was genius, gives a strong and searching performance as Atticus Finch...The rest of the large and very fine cast perform their parts with all their hearts, under Sher’s impeccably fine-tuned direction...More faithful than not to its source...The designers have done a beautiful job of conjuring that era without smothering the narrative...This play belongs to Atticus Finch. He holds the stage and he wins our love."
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"The set-up is a Sorkin masterstroke, perfectly executed by director Bartlett Sher, a dreamy gambit that justifies every liberty this simultaneously revisionist and faithful 'Mockingbird' will take over the next two hours-plus...To my mind, only Frederick Weller’s evil Bob Ewell tosses the pitch too wide, and Sorkin deserves much of the blame there."
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"Although the plot remains relatively intact, Sorkin has adapted the book with an eye toward dramatic structure, character development and contemporary cultural relevance...Some of Sorkin’s choices are questionable...In any event, 'To Kill a Mockingbird' proves to be an engrossing, provocative and uniformly well-acted adaptation — and a fitting addition to a shifting Broadway landscape."
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"Far from killing the essence of the great work, this excellent company achieved the unimaginable: they enhanced it. It’s a big production with 24 actors and yet it feels wholly intimate. Director Bartlett Sher staged the play with an eloquent simplicity...What makes the adaptation so successful is the masterful finesse that turned the 60-year-old literary classic into a most poignant drama, still of its time, but also now very much of our time as well."
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"Situated at the precarious intersection of Black Lives Matter and #MeToo, this story should feel dangerous and vital. The fact that it comes off as neither is an indictment of the playwright...Sorkin's choice to focus primarily on the trial leaves little room for Scout's rebellion against the expectations of her class and sex. Still, Scout's singularity comes through in the breathtaking performance of Celia Keenan-Bolger, an actor as intuitive as the character she plays."
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"Sorkin gives the accused a stronger voice...Stiff and serious-minded, with a blunt honesty that plays humorously, Keenan-Bolger uses the slightest of physical and vocal variations to blend swiftly from child to adult. She is thoroughly believable and quite remarkable... Sorkin's text and Weller's acting skills clearly paint a picture of a man who believes his actions are a justified response to the abuse he perceives he receives from the educated and accomplished."
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"Concerns about whether the script by Sorkin supports or subverts the novelist’s intentions are instantly allayed, with the audience held in rapt attention throughout. This stage Mockingbird is majestically triumphant...The soul and conscience of the 1960 novel virtually leap across the footlights...The Broadway 'Mockingbird' will likely leave a throb in your heart and a well of tears in your eyes."
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"The casting is better than perfect; it’s revelatory, with each actor serving both the novel’s humane vision and the nuances...It would be hard to imagine a more ideal Scout than the ageless Celia Keenan-Bolger, who imbues the precocious tomboy with all the intensity and wonder you’d expect...'Mockingbird’s' lessons may seem obvious, but like so many on offer at this moment, they also come across as depressingly timely and necessary."
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"Advance grumbling that Sorkin had robbed Scout’s subjectivity in order to build up Atticus’ rock-ribbed saintliness were a bit exaggerated. But there has been a trade-off. We lose some of the subtle poetry of a child’s coming of age, and in return we get a semi-woke Atticus doling out angry, liberal bumper stickers...For all that, the production, staged with fluid intelligence by Bartlett Sher, offers a night of engaging storytelling by a corps of fine actors."
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"Unfortunately, in this production, the whole never becomes the sum of its very considerable theatrical parts. This is especially regrettable because the creative team behind 'Mockingbird' consists of 'A-listers' all the way...Bartlett Sher’s direction does not help Daniels as he is often blocked downstage, with his back almost facing the audience during pivotal courtroom scenes that never seem to quite catch fire."
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"Kudos belong, as well, to Kimberly Grigsby and Allan Tedder, who sit on the sides of Miriam Buether's spare yet evocative set, playing era-appropriate music by Tony Award winner Adam Guettel. But it's Sorkin's and Lee's words that make the sweetest music onstage, reminding us of the challenges of doing the right thing even in the toughest of circumstances. To do otherwise, like killing a mockingbird, would be a sin. As would be missing this sublime show."
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"The gestures toward the present day aren’t especially necessary or helpful. If you can put these concerns aside, this 'Mockingbird' is a superbly entertaining and handsomely acted event. Sorkin has structured the play around the courtroom drama, which gives the action force and drive...Of course, Mockingbird rests on Daniels’ shoulders and they are ample."
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"Outstanding. That’s if 'outstanding' isn’t too mild an adjective to describe Sorkin’s accomplishment...He retains most of Lee’s important plot twists while introducing discreet, pointed alternative moments...As directed with immaculate care by Sher, Lee’s characters are well served on stage, first and foremost by Daniels...This is an astounding star turn...With all the first-rate work on display in this remarkable take on Lee’s masterpiece, patrons have much to mull as they exit the theater."
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"While Sorkin’s script hews closely to the film in most respects, the changes he makes are mostly improvements...The level of the acting is superb; even small roles have been cast with fine actors...Although Atticus is still very much at the center, the play works more as an ensemble piece than a character study. Bartlett Sher directs the large cast with consummate skill. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised how well this stage version turned out."
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"More like a trial of patience. A man’s life is at stake, but there is no question of suspense. Perhaps it’s because we know so well how the story goes, not just from reading Lee’s novel, but from experiencing or living with the injustices Black people face every day....What is the point of rehearsing such trauma on stage, even in the form of a towering literary adaptation, except to congratulate ourselves for having witnessed Something Important in the comfort of the dark?"
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"It’s a risk to cast adult actors as young children, but here the gambit works. While purists may be driven to distraction by all the tweaks, Sorkin’s reworking of Lee’s plot frequently lets us cast a fresh eye on a familiar story we remember well from school...Where Sorkin succeeds is in getting us to rethink an American classic without any fussiness or archness. Director Bartlett Sher strikes the right balance between the epic and the intimate."
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"Sorkin’s 'Mockingbird' is the most comprehensive study of the birds of Alabama — Finches, mockingbirds, all of them — you could hope to find. He’s picked new supporting characters from the novel to highlight, and even combined a couple...The pace is languid, for Sorkin. The old rat-tat-tat is missing, a good thing. He gets their cadences, and director Bartlett Sher lets everyone take their time telling the stories of Atticus, his kids, Tom Robinson and Boo Radley."
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