Grounded NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (27)
See it if Anne Hathaway does a great job of conveying the frustrations of a drone bomber. She was riveting.
Don't see it if The descriptions of the havoc her bombs wreak may be disturbing to some.
See it if To see Anne Hathaway in an intense performance and to see what drones are doing to the mind
Don't see it if You do not care about drones being used in warfare
See it if you enjoy a one woman show
Don't see it if the thought of surveillance scares you
See it if You love Anne Hathaway and Julie Taymor.
Don't see it if You're expecting a fully-reasoned expose on drone warfare.
See it if you want tour-de-force visuals about an air-force pilot & a riveting star-turn from rosy-cheeked Anne Hathaway
Don't see it if you don't buy Hathaway as a war-hardened, thrill-seeking soldier and expect nuanced writing when A-list talent & producers choose a play.
See it if You're a big fan of Anne Hathaway and like war plays -- not one or the other.
Don't see it if You dislike one-person plays and need more action than dialogue.
See it if you appreciate storytelling that brings current events from the newspapers to life. This play should be acted out on stages across the US.
Don't see it if you're looking for a light and fluffy night at the theater.
See it if you want to see a show about the Iraq war, you like one-person shows, you like stories about strong women.
Don't see it if you think the premise is too much for you, you like shows with multiple actors.
Critic Reviews (21)
"Taymor makes an impressive shift to something more intimate and psychological...She creates striking images to represent the changing world of the pilot...Brant's intriguing and engaging script doesn't argue policy, but is more fixed on the notion that modern technology is capable of turning soldiers into assassins, if only human conscience wouldn't stand in the way."
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"The evening is as much a sensory experience as it is a literary one. For all the physical aspects, however, director Taymor boils it all down to a piece about a single, solitary human being whose certainties slowly erode. Fierce, confused, angry, loving, exultant — Hathaway is as multi-colored as the Las Vegas neon that patterns the floor. What's unsaid in 'Grounded' is as potent as what is."
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"it’s my guess I would have liked “Grounded” better in almost any of its other productions...One senses the director is giving us this ride for its own sake...No one would deny that Julie Taymor’s 'Grounded' is visually arresting. But it is also dramatically arrested. Her emphasis on the special effects is distracting and overkill."
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"This production, unnervingly gorgeous and overwrought, considers the costs of fighting a foreign war from home...The breadth of the design and the intensity of the performance try to widen out the play in ways that don’t always flatter the script, flattening its ambiguities, underscoring symbols that were already obvious. And yet, the conclusion still chills."
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"The production is effective and often dazzling. It does what it’s supposed to do: take us inside the pilot’s mind. But 'Grounded' skimps on relationships. This character is many things, but not a solo act. The staging lets us know that the pilot is separated from everyone else by technology, but it’s the play that separates her from the audience."
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"George Brant's 2011 drama is more than just eerily prescient. Nor is the work merely a flashy vehicle for a glamour-puss movie star and an A-list director. This is a taut, visceral psychological portrait of a rare woman fighter pilot. 'Grounded' spreads the damage around with a precision strike on modern life itself."
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"Onstage alone for 85 minutes, she grabs the audience and takes it on a compelling dramatic journey. Directed by Julie Taymor, the production throbs with movement, background music and flashing projections...A disturbing play brought to vivid life by Hathaway's performance."
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"Brant provides scant geopolitical context, and arguably this lack of facts helps to reinforce the soullessness of the pilot’s existence, but his writing style is a bit too staccato for my taste — a few developed anecdotes would have helped deepen the story emotionally. But Hathaway’s memorably kinetic performance is noteworthy in itself."
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