Pride and Prejudice (Primary Stages) NYC Reviews and Tickets

"It hasn’t met a rib it can’t tickle. But the silliness masks a cynicism that blunts some of the fun...If the performances are sometimes too exaggerated, they are always spirited...I don’t mind the anachronisms in language or music and I’ll go to the mat for Ms. Hamill’s un-Georgian mischief. And yet, this 'Pride and Prejudice' misses the heart and real radicalism of its source. Maybe it even misses the point."
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"There is a pleasing simplicity to her adaptation...But in Primary Stages’ frisky production, comedic bits overwhelm character. Dehnert lets the playful antics descend into uncontrolled theatrics...The most effective moments are the ones with the most heart. O’Connell’s awkwardness is endearing, and Thorn delivers touching turns as both the mild Bennet patriarch and Lizzy’s practical friend Charlotte. Like Austen, they recognize the humor that can be found in restraint."
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"Hamill’s 'Pride and Prejudice' has fun and charm to spare, but it ultimately feels like it’s grafting an idea onto Austen’s text...Though this 'Pride and Prejudice' is full of high spirits and genuine mirth, Hamill’s additions to Austen feel, well, like additions. The games and bells become bells and whistles...When it embraces Austen’s inherent genius and humor, the production starts to shine...In its persistent additions to its source, it only intermittently accesses the power of what’s already there."
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“The ever-ingenious Ms. Hamill has given us something completely and delightfully different, a smallish-cast period-dress ‘Pride and Prejudice’ that she’s done over in the revved-up manner of a Hollywood screwball comedy…Such a show demands worthy staging, and Amanda Dehnert…delivers the goods with gusto…In addition to having written the script, Ms. Hamill plays Lizzy Bennet with winning impishness…The kind of show that would flourish in a small Broadway house.”
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"A laugh-out-loud adaptation...Isn't super accurate, as far as the novel is concerned anyway...The play itself features cross-dressing actors and more anachronisms than a Mel Brooks movie...While some of these jokey interludes are hit-and-miss, the antics mostly work because Dehnert and Hamill commit to the anachronistic tomfoolery throughout the show. But it's the actors, with their onstage playfulness who make the production a joy to watch."
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"The case for this sort of fooling around is that a classic is supposedly being given new life, making it accessible to modern audiences...It might help if these bits of business were executed with more precision, but there is far too much mugging, shouting, and running around, all of which proves wearying...Must it be so blatant, so juvenile? Couldn't a little Austen-style sophistication sneak into the proceedings?"
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“While this is not a Bedlam production as was Hamill's hugely successful stage version of Austen's second published novel, ‘Sense and Sensibility,’ director Amanda Dehnert has staged the play in their inimitable style for this co-production of Primary Stages and Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival and has created a clever 19th century entertainment with a decidedly 21st century sensibility. The versatile Hamill has also given herself the plum role of Elizabeth Bennet, here known as Lizzy.”
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"Purists need be forewarned that the gifted and talented Hamill has eloped just a bit recklessly with the irony, wit, and insightfulness of the novel's matrimonial considerations...This version, nevertheless, remains commendably faithful to Austin's plot yet with an almost giddy disposition towards parody...Matchmaking a la Austin in the Georgian manner has rarely been afforded so much giddy fun and funny games."
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