I Never Sang For My Father

See it if Anderson's drama of the eternal father/son relationship is well-crafted to the point of simplicity Strong cast w/ Buchanan's stoic mother A+

Don't see it if Minimal stage design - shifting black boxes - mutes the emotional content to detrimental effect; feels like watching a scene in acting class

See it if You are interested in family dramas especially dealing with issues of responsibility to aging parents

Don't see it if You need staging and sets, you cannot suspend disbelief when actors playing father and son are of different races

Also (continued) or other characters that in the play would have had to be white are played by a Black man. You have trouble with one actor playing more than one character.
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A little of the dialogue was hard to understand and in the beginning some of the acting was just a little uneven but in general it was well acted and a superior script. If the main actor was a little stiff in the beginning it was to show that the character was feeling uncomfortable.
To keep it up to date both the father and son's ages should be increased by 10 years--the 79 year old father and the 50 year old son circa 1962 had the problems that an 89 year old (Alzheimer's, deafness, talking about horse drawn funeral coaches) and a 60 year old (widowhood through cancer, seriously considering retirement) might have today. However, the play says some very important things
Although this production did start as an acting school project I thought that it was very professional... Read more Read less

See it if you believe parent-child relations are always smooth and loving, and parents should be perfect, so anything otherwise would interest you.

Don't see it if you are tired of listening to adults blame their parents for everything.

Also The case for a terrible father was not successfully made. He seemed like a well-intentioned curmudgeon who hardly emotionally hobbled his offspring. Tired old complaints. No insight, no transcendence, no epiphany.... Read more Read less