"In her thrilling intensity, Ms. Kandel overcomes the trouble that hamstrings the rest of Sharon Ann Fogarty’s complexly ambitious production...Yet the staging almost always feels disjointed — as if the live and recorded actors were on different planes, and not in a meaningful way...It’s weird, then, that this crowded production reads as bloodless, with no sense of Faust’s perpetually restless desire...A wealth of talent populates this show, but the elements just don’t cohere."
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“Maguire’s faithful, inventive and passionate adaptation...Maguire’s fine writing contains sly humor, melancholy and a classical sensibility that melds well with the multimedia theatrics on display...Fogarty’s colossal staging weaves together the many disparate technical elements into a unified mini-epic event...Mabou Mines, the iconoclastic theater company was founded in 1970 and continues to produce edgy, significant works. ‘Faust 2.0’ perpetuates that tradition.”
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"The multimedia components of the production run wild here, resulting in a disjointed presentation that never does full justice to the text or its performers...’Faust 2.0’ is gifted with a thought-provoking script and strong acting, but the production simply doesn't showcase them to their fullest potential. Maguire's adaptation operates skillfully in tragic and comic modes, offering satire and sincerity alike. The problem is that in the modern era, all the digital noise won't let us listen.”
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“Mabou Mines takes on the German classic, with mixed results...’Faust 2.0’, contains moments of humor and beauty but doesn't coalesce into a clear or fully satisfying experience...Fogarty's interpretation of this timeless tale is constantly surprising, if not always inspired...The play has too many ‘Huh?’ moments...Let's also hope that the next time they sink their teeth into a text, they rely less on the trappings of post-modernity and more on their own deep pool of experience and talent."
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"An utter catastrophe of uninspiring staging that left me dumbfounded. How could this have gone so wrong?...A lot for the actors to chew on, but when you have them acting to cameras, set up with screens that distort and block their actual faces, or the majority of them prerecorded and airing on one of the five screens hanging, then, well, they’re acting alone, and that solitude creates a void between the actors and the words they are saying."
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“The sheer scope of the post-everything production is actually kind of astonishing. The piece packs in so many references and influences from all sorts of spheres that it’s all rather dizzying. This ‘throw spaghetti on the wall’ approach is what makes the show rather exciting, unpredictable, and ultimately frustrating. At the end of the day, I can’t help feeling that Mabou Mines has bitten off more than it can chew...The play feels overstuffed and overlong, despite the efforts of a game cast.”
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