Tennessee Williams's The Night of the Iguana NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (141)
See it if You understand how rare it is to see great acting of the words of a great playwright
Don't see it if You cant or wont focus on three hours of poetic dialogue Read more
See it if You’re a Tennessee Williams fan. This seldom produced play is spectacular for its pacing and relentless relevance. A+ set/costume/lighting.
Don't see it if You’re not prepared to sit through three hours just to see a couple characters go through their motions. Phenomenal performances. Read more
See it if Small intimate theater, excellent writing, staging and acting is appreciated.
Don't see it if You only like Disney shows
See it if a fan of Tennessee Williams’ work; don’t mind sometimes oddly-paced or surrealistic moments; want to think deeply; looking to be moved.
Don't see it if seeking a fresh, realistic, and contemporary play; struggle with Williams’ blend of dream-like moments in what he called “plastic theatre." Read more
See it if Vivid, gritty characters, relevant and relatable struggles, packed with layered symbolism. Jean Lichty was a standout. I loved it!
Don't see it if You don't enjoy long dialog centered plays. Some may find it slow and dated, but I was spellbound from beginning to end.
See it if love the character development that TW is known for in all his plays - real people facing real problems-this one in a Mexican coast setting.
Don't see it if you do not like talky plays that develop on the slow side, or you don't mind missing excellent performances by the 5 lead actors.
See it if You want to see a very well staged and acted Tennessee Williams classic.The entire cast is excellent.
Don't see it if You don’t have the patience to sit through almost three hours.
See it if you enjoy Williams poetic writing that hits on universal themes of life that are still resonant today. The two leads are strong
Don't see it if looking for increased tension / be on the edge of your seat. it's a slow burn. Lofty at times. Read more
Critic Reviews (17)
"Even as his characters stumble tragically in search of meaning, their convictions carry the sharp-tongued certainty of soap opera idols. But a new revival from La Femme Theater at the Signature Center mires itself too deeply in its characters’ confusions to let the edges of his language shine."
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"3/5 Stars. "Shannon is a hard guy to tolerate, let alone love, and Daly's erratic performance does the play no favors...Emily Mann's lugubrious pacing only makes the task harder...Laden with poetry and symbolism, the play is a lot like its central character: challenging, shunned, yet worthy of a redemption that this production can't quite deliver."
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"The play as written unfolds almost in real time; we watch the precarious, almost combustible relationships between these people slowly mutate over one night that, in this 3-hour play, stretches on. And on."
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“ ‘The Night of the Iguana’, like the reptile in its name, needs a little heat to get moving...for the play to work I think you have to be willing to turn the temperature up instead—stare down the maximalism and embrace it...In 'Iguana,' there’s plenty of introspection - but not enough momentum to grip you. The characters keep bracing for a storm, yet Mann’s production stays placid.”
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“Wordy and slow to develop, ‘The Night of the Iguana’ works best when it draws the audience into its intrigue by allowing us to glimpse the fantastic hiding among the mundane. Unfortunately, that never really happens in this rudderless production. By the third hour, it was clear the squirmy audience sympathized most with the lizard.”
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“The Night of the Iguana is a tricky piece -- it is long, talky, and filled with fractious encounters yet it climaxes in an extraordinary baring of souls that requires the most sensitive handling -- and it cries out for a kind of bravura acting that is missing from Emily Mann's production. Everyone involved seems to know which notes to hit, but they do so either unconvincingly or in a muted fashion. Such half-measures are no good; the often-tentative quality of the acting drains the play of tension.”
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“The staging remains so static, however, that it's difficult to get a sense of the boiling, collective desperation that keeps characters metaphorically tethered to the ends of their ropes...One wonders if the rousing applause at the final curtain call–mostly for Daly, the only actor taking a solo bow in this ‘Femme’ production–is sublimated joy for the creature finally set free. Audiences also scurried for the exit.”
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"Not to get too personal about it, or maybe to get far too personal about it: The La Femme Theatre revival of Tennessee Williams’s 'The Night of the Iguana' offered me a double whammy."
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