China Doll NYC Reviews and Tickets

"David Mamet has written a tense and involving one-act play. Trouble is, he’s written it as a two-act play…Although the playwright holds off on his ending for longer than he should, when it does arrive, it’s explosive...It’s not only a surprise, it’s perhaps even too much of an unexpected plot turn. But it does send the audience up the aisles with more satisfaction than they felt at the end of the first act…Pacino is certainly effective at displaying Mickey’s labile moods."
Read more

"It’s unclear how much Pacino is enjoying the exercise…He often seems distracted, stuttering over his sentences…Much of the first act feels like throat clearing, a long limbering up to set the wheels of plot spinning. Spinning is most of what they continue to do throughout the second act until a wildly improbably finale…Pam MacKinnon has little success in clarifying the relationships or even the setting...If Pacino had not signed on, would anyone have bothered with this at all?"
Read more

"It’s a very slow burning first act…The carefully parsed-out details that we do learn, however, make for a riveting second act. Much of the language is sublime and there are great one liners along the way: ‘Everyone wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die.’ But would 'China Doll' work without Pacino or a star of his caliber? No way…He brings out his entire arsenal of shtick...And he’s great doing all of it."
Read more

"Ultimately, it feels like a stunt; by keeping the other side of the discussion silent, the playwright doesn't have to justify what Mickey is saying. Some of the leaps in the plot are so oblique that the play loses any steam it had…But after all is said and done you are left with Al Pacino...If 'China Doll' has its weaknesses--and it has--it also has Al Pacino. And Al Pacino, on this occasion, is enough."
Read more

"A grueling and nearly impenetrable slog of a play...The exposition proceeds at a slow trickle, as does the plot. Excepting the brief moments when Mickey barks at or cajoles his assistant, Mamet’s play is entirely made up of one-sided conversations conducted over an ergonomic earpiece...Whether anything else about the play becomes clear depends on the sheer strength of your will."
Read more

"Pacino, stooping slightly, paces and gesticulates; his pauses and occasional mumbled lines (others are shouted, with sometimes alarming intensity) seem entirely in character...Pacino also reveals him, sometimes hauntingly, as a desperate old man. The play itself is not always coherent...But if 'China Doll' is sometimes shaky or confounding, it is never boring. Whatever Mamet's points, he and Pacino consistently engage us."
Read more

"The playwright has given Pacino almost no story to build around his character and given him lines that pick over the same obvious plot points, mostly with the same barking emphasis…It is always a kick to watch Pacino wrestle with a character — and this one is a beast. Every so often, Mamet gives him a wonderful line that sums up the dark side of humanity. More often, however, the writing is as lazy as Mickey calling someone 'more fun than a Swiss Army Knife.'"
Read more

"If 'China Doll' were written by an aspiring playwright, you’d wonder if the author should be exploring another line of work. That it’s the creation of David Mamet, one of the most influential authors in contemporary American theater, is mind-boggling. Among its transgressions is the abuse of the talent of Al Pacino, who gives a valiant performance, although one that also seems to acknowledge he knows when he’s beaten. The drama is a pointless, drawn-out mess."
Read more