"So cut down it has bled out...You can get a glimmer of what Doyle is after: a plain, vernacular presentation of the text by actors who look and sound like today...Admirable as this approach may seem in the abstract, there is something stingy about it in practice. All pageantry is lost...The deeper problem here is what happens when there is no style, or rather when the lack of style becomes a style in itself...It feels wrong to blame the cast for what is evidently Doyle’s doing."
Read more

"The principal characters and speeches remain, but without the tension and texture that cohere them. The result is a lot of coming and going that rarely makes best use of its ensemble cast...What’s missing is the weight that can give romance its footing. There are moments to like here, but not enough to love."
Read more

"Perhaps in part because the first song doesn’t come along until a half-hour into the proceedings, Doyle’s 'As You Like It' gets off to a slowish, oddly unspecific start...Truth to tell, I never really thought that Doyle’s underlying concept for the production registered with full clarity, nor did it seem that he was entirely at ease with Shakespeare’s comic side. Fortunately, the rest of the cast is full of fine performers, and the second half of the show took wing and gave much pleasure."
Read more

"Rarely have I seen such widespread joy cross so many faces like the wave at a football game as I observed during John Doyle’s fleet, exuberant, giddy-making production. And for good reason...The comedy is robust, the gravitas is deep yet not portentous...The heavy linguistic lifting is handled with ethereal bliss by a trio of experts...There’s magic in the air, and then, in just 90 too-brief minutes, it’s gone."
Read more

"Between life-or-death exiles and jumbled romances, 'As You Like It' is built to spark a gamut of emotions. Alas, CSC’s revival of Shakespeare’s rom-com fires so few of them...Burstyn's take on the famous 'all the world’s a stage speech' comes and goes without making a mark. That’s pretty much par for the course for director Doyle’s staging...The show has a couple bright spots. Music by Schwartz for the song-stuffed play enhance the mood. And Doyle cleverly conjures the Arden woods."
Read more

"If a production falls flat in a forest, does anyone hear it?...The question springs to mind while watching John Doyle's 'As You Like It'...Whenever things threaten to become tedious, which is often, Doyle has the actors engage in such bits of business as sweeping the playing area or kicking around a soccer ball...The performances are all over the map, with the standouts being Hannah Cabell's feisty Rosalind and Quincy Tyler Bernstine's appealing Celia."
Read more

"Doyle’s textual cuts are so numerous that the play becomes too choppy. The transition from the royal court to the woods is also muted due to the bare, all-purpose scenic design. Nevertheless, the intimate production is mostly enjoyable, possessing a speed and seamlessness that suits the play’s whimsical nature. The audience receives a good deal of attention, and one lucky guy is even selected for a cameo. The cast is excellent."
Read more

"Doyle seems to have eschewed comedy in favor of a host of recycled ideas, leaving his actors to fend for themselves...The major problem with this production is that, for a comedy, it's just not that funny. Doyle embellishes the play with his usual kabuki-like flourishes...Sadly, Doyle neglects to refine the comic beats...Original songs fail to inject much levity...The result is a middling production of a second-rate comedy. But at a zippy 1 hour, 45 minutes, it goes by quickly enough."
Read more