The Hairy Ape
Closed 1h 30m
The Hairy Ape
86

The Hairy Ape NYC Reviews and Tickets

86%
(288 Ratings)
Positive
95%
Mixed
4%
Negative
1%
Members say
Great staging, Great acting, Ambitious, Absorbing, Intense

About the Show

Park Avenue Armory and the Old Vic present O’Neill's expressionist drama, a searing social commentary on the divide between the rich and poor in the industrial age. Starring Emmy winner and Tony nominee Bobby Cannavale.

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Show-Score Member Reviews (288)

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205 Reviews | 108 Followers
96
Riveting, Relevant, Great staging, Great acting, Absorbing

See it if you want a visually stunning expressionistic play that fills the huge drill hall with dramatic sights and sounds. Very unique experience.

Don't see it if you don't want to see Bobby Cannavale in a great performance. Deals broadly with class and wealth as only O'Neill can. Run, don't walk!

93 Reviews | 32 Followers
96
Best production of hairy ape you will ever see., Ambitious, Must see, Quirky

See it if Want to see the definitive production of this play. You will never see a better production of it.

Don't see it if Really don't like heights. The audience is at an extreme rake. Read more

94 Reviews | 64 Followers
96
Great acting, Great staging, Must see

See it if you are interested in seeing a thought provoking play, with great ensemble acting and incredibly visually powerful staging

Don't see it if your not interested in serious plays that have strong opinions about social issues.

59 Reviews | 22 Followers
96
Must see, Indulgent, Great acting, Absorbing, Ambitious

See it if You enjoy theatrical experiences that are once in a lifetime.

Don't see it if Go see it. You can tell your frandkids about it. Such a cool experience and Bobby Canavale was born for this role.

184 Reviews | 30 Followers
96
Absorbing, Great acting, Great writing, Original staging, Thought-provoking

See it if you enjoy great acting. Bobby Cannavalle deliveries a tour de force performance. Great ensemble and well staged.

Don't see it if are looking for easy entertainment with this thought-provoking drama that is as relevant today as when it was written in 1922.

141 Reviews | 37 Followers
95
Absorbing, Great acting, Great staging, Great writing, Relevant

See it if timeless, searing, social drama is your cup of tea. O'Neill at his best as far as I'm concerned.

Don't see it if you don't appreciate expressionism or creative staging.

417 Reviews | 190 Followers
95
Great staging, Great acting, Edgy, Thought-provoking, Absorbing

See it if You like expert ensemble actors led by Bobby Cannavale in the timeless story of man's search for his self-worth. Do not miss this!

Don't see it if You are looking for a happy ending. Do not like modern interpretations in a moving steel stage set. Read more

563 Reviews | 194 Followers
95
Absorbing, Great acting, Great staging, Intelligent, Relevant

See it if You want a dynamic, riveting production. You want great acting. You want a classic play that is still relevant.

Don't see it if You want a contemporary play. You prefer traditional staging. You don't like O'Neill, though this production, may change your mind.

Critic Reviews (25)

B
April 15th, 2017

"This gripping revival accomplishes the difficult task of making this problematic play acceptable for a 21st-century audience...Bobby Cannavale’s visceral performance as Robert Smith (Yank) anchors the production...The other cast members also excel...While O’Neill’s take on class conflict and the search for identity in the industrial age may have lost some of its power today, this production makes the best possible case for giving the play another chance."
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T
April 6th, 2017

"High-caliber direction, design and acting...Richard Jones’ brilliantly bizarre production of the O’Neill play takes full advantage of the cavernous Park Avenue Armory space...Jones turns Yank’s journey into a road trip to hell, creating one amazing encounter after another. A noirish jazz-age dance number (Aletta Collins provided the frantic choreography) is followed by a riot in a cell-block...A daring example of unconventional theatrical forms."
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Z
April 3rd, 2017

"As masterful as the sets, costumes, movement, and direction by Richard Jones all are, it is the mesmerizing performance of Bobby Cannavale in the born-to-play role of Yank that brings it all to life, and to heart...The performances and the staging will leave you speechless. And then you will exit that glorious edifice and find yourself on Park Avenue at the epicenter of money and the upper class, and you won’t know whether to laugh or cry. Either way, you’ll be glad you were there."
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The Modernist Beat
April 3rd, 2017

"A superlative production...It should also spark a revision of how we receive Eugene O’Neill’s work in the twenty-first century...As relevant today as the drama of Lynn Nottage’s 'Sweat'...Cannavale is a wonder...Director Richard Jones deserves a standing ovation in his own right. The production was flawless from the character work with the actors to the design elements to the production logistics...From start to finish, it was a dazzling achievement."
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Paste Magazine
May 8th, 2017

"Cannavale delivers a viscerally charged performance that drives the show. He roars with conviction but also hints at the vulnerabilities that lie just below the surface...The aggressively blunt dialogue can grow tiring, but viewed in service of an allegory, it feels somewhat fitting. There are some thoughts that subtlety fails to express and need to be declared with a wallop. This sense of a breaking point propels the play foreword to its tragic conclusion."
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Escape Into Life
April 12th, 2017

“There are constant amazing sights...Bobby Cannavale carries off the truly difficult task of convincing us he is the tough, vigorous, and imposing, verbally and emotionally restricted Yank. He and his inordinately skilled and devoted ensemble of fellow actors, work themselves to the bone to bring this nearly century-old play to electric life…To this landmark revival, that uses phenomenal theatricality to express both dreamlike, bitter farce, and very real tragedy...Thanks.”
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Village Voice
April 5th, 2017

“A muscular, visually astonishing production…Bold gestures help the production transcend what seems at first a simple agitprop premise, becoming something unruly and unreal. The searching, restless fury in Cannavale's knockabout performance likewise pushes the production past an exercise in raising class consciousness…Aided by O'Neill's relentless truth-telling and Jones's gritty visual poetry, Yank's hopeless struggle comes off as a Job-like plight of unusual urgency."
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Daily Beast
March 31st, 2017

"This isn’t a play; it’s a piece of art...Such pyrotechnics are necessary, since much of O’Neill has trouble translating across the decades since his death, not least 'The Hairy Ape'...Subtle it ain’t...O’Neill’s writing tends to land like a punch in the face...The show lives or dies on its production values, and in this case it’s the former...Each of the eight scenes is somehow more spectacular than the one before it...It is not possible to look away, even for a moment."
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