A Man For All Seasons (Fellowship for Performing Arts) NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (54)
See it if Brilliant Acting & Staging
Don't see it if you don't like good drama and want a musical
See it if you'd like a stage version of the 1966 film. Very fine, w/ a knockout punch on lethal dangers of thought policemen.
Don't see it if you dislike long think pieces; support statist invasions of private thoughts, reeducation camps and death penalties for those who disagree.
See it if While this show is produced from a Christian theater perspective, it didn't take away from the riveting production. Well acted and absorbing
Don't see it if If you don't like Tudor history, religious and moral debates.
See it if You want to see a really compelling drama about a man who clung to his beliefs, whatever the consequences, but did so in the smartest way.
Don't see it if You don't want a long and talky drama.
See it if you love the craft of theater and the power of words. Beautifully acted by all and this is the most human Sir Thomas More. A drama for all
Don't see it if you have no interest in history, human nature, current events or theater. This is not light entertainment but 21/2 hours of engrossing drama
See it if you want to see a classic play performed to near perfection.
Don't see it if you don't like plays that make you think.
See it if you enjoy a well acted and staged drama about a person willing to die for his views. Wonderful dialogue and just a great play.
Don't see it if you like comedy or you only like new plays. Read more
See it if Well-done historical drama with fine performances by Countryman, McCormick, Wong and Dugan. Always engaging with nice set and costumes.
Don't see it if discussions of religion and ethics do not grab you. It can get abstruse and didactic -- but I eat this stuff up. Read more
Critic Reviews (15)
"Ms. Scott-Reed’s uneven staging gets in the way of cohesiveness, though...The laugh lines often stumble, too. That’s despite some nice performances. Mr. Countryman is a warmly sympathetic More, and Ms. McCormick is magnetic...while John Ahlin is vivid and comical in two roles, as the ingratiating diplomat Chapuys and More’s enemy, Cardinal Wolsey. But this production otherwise denies More the requisite worthy adversaries, which throws off the equilibrium and dulls the storytelling."
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"There are reasons Bolt’s drama is rarely performed nowadays. Long on talk and short on action, the play is a museum piece, and in this production the museum in question appears to be Madame Tussauds. Director Christa Scott-Reed's approach is painfully traditional. The uneven cast sports faux British accents...Since More's demise is a foregone conclusion, there's little dramatic tension, and the play’s arguments are more compelling intellectually than emotionally."
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"A stirring piece of theatre...Michael Countryman is superb, heading an excellent cast. His Thomas is quiet, kind, witty, fiercely intelligent, and morally, perhaps foolishly, incorruptible. Matters of faith and conscience are a specialty of this company, and Bolt’s eloquent, dramatically paced play examines these issues in a riveting historical context."
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"A middling off-Broadway revival...His story has real resonance in today's political climate, which the audience will easily grasp, provided it is able to stay awake...Bolt's musty, feinting-at-Tudor style belongs to an imagined past, rather than the fleshy reality of history...Matters aren't helped by director Christa Scott-Reed's by-the-book production...At every step, the creative team has cautiously declined to reimagine Bolt's play for a new century."
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“You will find little or nothing in ‘A Man for All Seasons’ about More's theology and how it informs his life...Bolt's well-constructed, often-witty drama is a kind of manhunt...Scott-Reed's production is more than passable...Countryman is solid, if slightly colorless...If you've seen the likes of Bosco and Langella as More, this production can't help but disappoint...In any case, Bolt takes a most sensible approach, elegantly tracing the intrigues that brought down More."
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"In recent years the play has not fared with such acclaim. A 2008 Broadway revival starring Frank Langella eliminated the narrator character, the play's cleverest device, and was not well received. Now Fellowship for the Performing Arts has brought the play to the Acorn Theatre directed by Christa Scott-Reed, who also staged FPA's revival of 'Shadowlands' last season. Unfortunately, the academic and unimaginative production fails to bring the ideas and the tensions in the play to a boil."
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"A thoughtful, verbose drama...Unfortunately, this off-Broadway production by Fellowship for Performing Arts, fails to capture the colorful fascination of the era or the absorbing philosophical heart of the play...In this production, not only do we miss the economic ostentation of historical extravagance but creative staging...Despite its relevance, this revival lacks the theater qualities to rivet an audience."
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"Invites the usual pseudo-Shakespearean acting…Countryman's low-keyed More lacks the brilliantly crafted, charismatic integrity…of…Scofield's magnificent original…However, Countryman's…conflicted soul is more humanly affecting and down-to-earth…than Langella's pompously dull version of 10 years ago…Scott-Reed's blandly conventional production resembles something one might have seen in a college or community theatre 50 years ago."
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