The Baroness - Isak Dinesen's Final Affair NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (71)
See it if you'd like to see an interesting contemporary play about an absolutely fascinating and groundbreaking woman.
Don't see it if ...you only like large bombastic Disney-like shows.
See it if You are interested in learning about Isak Dinesen's fascinating life. Well acted, truthfully brought to life on an interesting stage.
Don't see it if You don't care who Isak Dinesen was. Don't care to see an older woman's charisma at work. You don't believe in magic.
See it if Like period plays, base on A true story, and love, to see someone that's really good at their craft. She was Superb.
Don't see it if Don't like older women trying to seduce younger men. Read more
See it if This well written play captures the influence of the aging outstanding storyteller Dinesen, on the young poet Bjørnvig’s career.
Don't see it if you do not like biographical material in any form Read more
See it if You want to be fascinated by a hypnotic, wise and glamorous woman, hurtling towards tragedy.
Don't see it if You have no interest in Karen Blixen. The fact that Act I coud benefit from an additional intermission would make you restive. Read more
See it if Fine character study of a complex and compelling woman/artist struggling against the inevitable. An exceptional performance by the lead.
Don't see it if You don't like to be so close to a dark, uncomfortable relationship doomed to disaster.
See it if You loved "Out of Africa" and are interested in the author
Don't see it if You do not enjoy intelligent dialogue
See it if You enjoy plots that have underlying meanings, indirect story lines, w/good acting and unique staging
Don't see it if You enjoy light plays
Critic Reviews (15)
"The second act doubles down on the less interesting angle of Krebs's drama in ways that make its ending play as more of an exhausted shrug than a satisfying, if tragic, conclusion...The drama, for the most part, is riveting, especially with Pelletier commanding our attention as Blixen...As a character study of an irresistibly eccentric and elusive artist, 'The Baroness' leaves a lasting impression long after the details of this particular affair have dissolved."
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"A bizarre hybrid of highfalutin book chat, gossipy revelations, and sexual intrigues. It isn't good, but it certainly is a camp...'The Baroness' is weighed down by loads of pretentious dialogue and an inability to render its central situation in any kind of believable way...Pelletier is a fine actress, and her excesses here are surely in the service of her director and the script. At least she keeps things lively, as opposed to Ardelius, whose Bjørnvig is a doltish and passive male ingenue."
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“Dramatizations of the lives of authors rarely work as it is very difficult to show them in the act of creation. In ‘The Baroness - Isak Dinesen's Final Affair,’ Thor Bjørn Krebs has brought Karen Blixen and Thorkild Bjørnvig to vivid life both as people and as artists using primary sources. Dee Pelletier and Conrad Ardelius do not seem to be acting these roles as much as living them. Just try taking your eyes away from the stage for a moment.”
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"The production's three actors make the most of the flat characters they've been given...The tale of obsession Krebs has fabricated from odds and ends of the historical record isn't likely to send playgoers in search of Dinesen's literary works. Bereft of the elegance, humor, and suspense that characterize the Baroness's own fiction, Krebs' drama offers only a couple of scenes of engaging dialogue before devolving into ponderous chatter about sad, ugly events."
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"'The Baroness: Isak Dinesen’s Final Affair' is showcasing a performance so dazzling as to bring to mind all the splendid actresses who played Amanda Wingfield. This is a tour de force for Dee Pelletier...The work is abstruse, the first act seemingly endless. Although there are verbal fireworks, there is little warmth. We are not drawn to the characters, none of whom is admirable. They evoke neither empathy nor sympathy."
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"The poetry and the artistic ideas are there...but much is lost in this overly long play, trapped in a whirlwind of repetitive dramatics and themes, and weighed down by a bland portrayal of a handsome poet...The real magic of this piece lies with Pelletier...The stage is only alive and vibrating when she is on...Some more carving and sculpturing might be required to create a truly mesmerizing and emotionally powerful portrait of this captivating woman."
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“Biographical plays about writers and their ideas on and problems with writing rarely make great theatre…The dialogue is wooden, the situations artificial, and the inspiration commonplace. Thorkild comes off more as an earnest cipher…than a three-dimensional person. She…is…reminiscent of Gloria Swanson's more egregious moments in 'Sunset Boulevard'…'The Baroness' doesn't shed additional light on Isak Dinesen's writing…As theatre, it's rather dull stuff and could use a growling lion or two.”
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"That she’s a mad woman, in Krebs’s dramatic estimation, gets increasingly clearer, and don’t you know there are those plays when viewers get to musing about why the character confronting such off-putting behavior doesn’t just leave? The answer to the question is usually that the playwright won’t allow it for fear of then having no play left...Pelletier, Ardelius and Johansson...do what they can with the hyper-roles. Director Henning Hedland should take much of the credit for that."
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