The Taming of the Shrew (Delacorte)
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The Taming of the Shrew (Delacorte)
78

The Taming of the Shrew (Delacorte) NYC Reviews and Tickets

78%
(189 Ratings)
Positive
83%
Mixed
12%
Negative
5%
Members say
Clever, Great acting, Entertaining, Funny, Ambitious

About the Show

As part of its free Shakespeare in the Park lineup, The Public Theater presents the Bard's zany comedy of the sexes with an all-female cast. Starring Tony winner Janet McTeer and directed by Phyllida Lloyd.

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Show-Score Member Reviews (189)

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84 Reviews | 38 Followers
72
Ambitious, Great acting, Dizzying, Refreshing, Failed (but admirable) experiment

See it if you are interested in the all-female take, you want to see the glorious Janet McTeer RULE the stage.

Don't see it if you want something perfectly packaged and glossy. This is an experiment... sometimes it doesn't work. But it's admirable and exciting.

461 Reviews | 97 Followers
70
Ambitious, Clever, Great staging, Original, Quirky

See it if You like Shakespeare and want to see a phenomenal all women cast try to tackle a very misogynistic play and ALMOST succeed.

Don't see it if Even with great acting, the misogyny of this play is grating & exhausting and hard to get around. Very non-traditional approach to this play

137 Reviews | 24 Followers
70
Confusing, Messy, Great acting, Indulgent, Entertaining

See it if You know the play well enough to follow all the diversions/changes. Thought McTeer was great.

Don't see it if You can't score a ticket from a friend.

53 Reviews | 24 Followers
70
Raunchy, Quirky, Funny

See it if you like Shakespeare, romantic comedies, shows with gender-blind casting, you want to see some good acting

Don't see it if zaniness or mild temper tantrums will annoy you, the metaphors need to make sense perfectly

hw
288 Reviews | 54 Followers
68
Great acting, Dizzying, Intense, Clever

See it if you have never seen Taming. You only need one in your lifetime, and at least Lloyd has tried to give it some vitally necessary irony.

Don't see it if the extreme misogyny in the play offends you - it's hard to find a way to stage it. McTeer is amazing, though: she is always worth seeing.

102 Reviews | 23 Followers
68
Clever, Slow, Disappointing

See it if You get excited by female empowerment and women playing male roles.

Don't see it if You can't stand directors with overt political messages or if you want a complex, layered version of Shrew with tension between characters.

214 Reviews | 61 Followers
67
Thought-provoking, Resonant, Indulgent, Ambitious, Confusing

See it if you are a fan of McTeer or Jumbo and are eager to reconsider the meanings and implications of the play.

Don't see it if you think "Taming of the Shrew" should be funny.

197 Reviews | 73 Followers
66
Slow, Ambitious, Dated, Funny

See it if you have never seen The Taming of the Shrew.

Don't see it if you are looking for something straightforward. I found it pretty incoherent.

Critic Reviews (42)

NorthJersey.com
June 14th, 2016

"In her all-female, modern-dress roller-coaster of a production, director Phyllida Lloyd takes liberties with the play, but the result, if a big ragged, is often wickedly funny. Much credit goes to the wonderful British actress Janet McTeer…In McTeer’s portrayal, Petruchio is a harsh, even cruel chauvinist, while also a hilarious caricature of one…Since 'Shrew,' is a loosely constructed, not terribly good play, with much time spent with the tedious wooing of Bianca, no narrative harm is done."
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Financial Times (UK)
June 13th, 2016

"Lloyd’s version is an uproarious montage that unleashes the full force of the play’s farcical and vaudevillian energy...Displaying an endearing mixture of charm and clumsiness, Jumbo has comic talents reminiscent of Doris Day or Lucille Ball…Adapting perfectly to the demands of open-air performance, Lloyd has reinvented 'The Shrew' while preserving its original unsettling power. This is what it must have felt like in the Globe."
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WNBC
June 13th, 2016

“Starring two exceptionally animated actresses and offering generally low-stakes direction from Phyllida Lloyd...Some 16 talented actresses swagger around and perform with exaggerated behaviors generally associated with the less-fair sex. No one seems to be having more fun than McTeer...This interpretation is certainly asserting that women have more choices than they did in the Bard’s day. It’s good, smirking fun, sometimes too-smitten with its own sense of edginess.”
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Out Magazine
June 20th, 2016

“On paper, this sounds like a ‘Why even bother doing the show if you have to gussy it up with so many gimmicks and quote marks?’ But amazingly, it pretty much works...The women convince in their male roles, generally not going for camp, yet it’s enough of a masquerade to underline the reverse trick they’re pulling off in emasculating the males. The visuals don’t all mesh, and when the production gets heavy-handed about spoofing male pigs, it’s too shrewish.”
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NJ.com
June 14th, 2016

"Lloyd doesn't so much as attempt to deconstruct or reinvent 'Shrew' as she does declare open war on the play...A joke that at first seems too obvious gradually coalesces: Lloyd is connecting past to present, and showing us that, 400-plus years after this text was first written, men still see it as their birthright to control the fates of women...All of this is great fun and very deft—a 'Shrew' that remains faithful to Shakespeare's story, while also functioning as a pointed auto-critique."
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Epoch Times
June 20th, 2016

“One cannot shake the feeling that both Lloyd and Eustis are apologizing for the play they’re presenting...Despite these problems, Lloyd’s use of an all-female cast works well...McTeer and Jumbo do a great job with their respective roles...The actresses play off each other well, engaging in a battle of wills that takes place on numerous levels...An interesting effort, this production comes off as far too hung up on its subject matter to be completely effective.”
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Z
June 13th, 2016

"It’s frantic and frenzied, and like all wild parties, both thrilling and exhausting...Having women play the roles of the sexist barb-throwers doesn’t reduce the discomfort…With McTeer as Petruchio strutting and Jumbo as Katharina spitting and spinning, and all the rest of the talented cast making us laugh and keeping us entertained from the opening pageant to the Joan Jett bows, it’s a fast and fun two hours. But does it solve the problem of this thorny, difficult, discomfiting play? No way."
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Edge New York
June 14th, 2016

"Phyllida Lloyd gathers together a whip-smart cast of powerful women…At two intermission-less hours, the play is tight, if uneven at times. While some of the actors seemed to shout their lines, McTeer alone seemed to live them. Applause must go to the winning Gilmore as Donato; Moore in her imposter role; and of course, the excellent comedian Judy Gold, who saved the day by doing impromptu stand-up during a technical difficulty."
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