November 14, 2006

Critics love witty 'Little Dog Laughed' on Broadway

Becoming the best-reviewed play on Broadway this season, "The Little Dog Laughed" opened last night with high praise for the comedic talents of Julie White as a brutally witty Hollywood agent coping with her client's "recurring case of homosexuality."

Staged earlier this year at the Second Stage Theatre, the play moves to Broadway with a few cast changes, mostly praised by the critics. White, who received raves while in the comedy downtown, is better known for portraying Nadine Swaboda in TV's "Grace Under Fire" and Mitzi Dalton Huntley in "Six Feet Under."

"The Little Dog Laughed" has an open-ended run at the Cort Theatre, located at 138 W. 48th St., map.

The reviews:

Newark Star-Ledger - "However, when droll acting literally stops a nonmusical comedy -- briefly putting matters on pause for explosive laughter, applause, even cheers from the audience -- well, that's something extraordinary. Julie White accomplishes just such an amazing feat several times in her tremendously funny portrayal of a semi-heartless show-biz agent in 'The Little Dog Laughed.'"

New York Times - "Mr. Beane has a linguistic talent that peaked with post-World War I playwrights like Philip Barry and Noël Coward: the gift for making spoiled, shallow people seem interesting, and not because of how they spend their money or whom they sleep with, but because of how they talk."

Post - "It's as slight as a drag queen's feather boa, yet if a straight male audience doesn't feel threatened by some totally gratuitous male nudity, heterosexuals should find the show just as amusing as their gay counterparts will."

Newsday - "Almost everyone thinks Bean's satire about closeted-gay Hollywood is cutting-edge funny. Wish I could, too."

Variety - "The weakest link is Alex's sort-of-girlfriend Ellen. As clever and funny as the writing is, Beane's quip factory often functions at the expense of character development -- particularly so in this case. While Zoe Lister-Jones was abrasive in the role at Second Stage, Ari Graynor seems stiff and uncomfortable as the smart-ass party girl, sucking the air out of the play whenever she's onstage."

Associated Press - "Beane's play is deeper on a second viewing, too. Despite the jokes, there are serious intentions behind his savagely funny look at what deception does to people, particularly in the complicated world of show biz. Compromise is the order of the day — in front and behind the camera."

Daily News - "White and Galecki reprise roles they created last winter at Second Stage Theatre under director Scott Ellis, who has guided them to even richer performances. White, like the play, is over the top - and it works. With eyes that careen crazily in their sockets, a loopy voice and perfect coming timing, she is a blast - a red-headed hurricane in high heels and with low morals. She looks smashing in Jeff Mahshie's fab outfits."

Hartford Courant - "Highly charged in nonstop animation, she makes Diane an almost superhuman force, one who can arrange fate like some divinity from a LalaLand Olympus. Physically graceful, with moves that are almost dancelike, she also shows herself to be the mistress of rapid-fire dialogue, composed by Beane with canny insight into the rarefied aerie of stardom."

Sun - "And despite a weakness for needlessly arch dialogue and a somewhat facile view of Hollywood (anyone who's read a few chapters of William Goldman or seen 10 minutes of HBO's 'Entourage' could guess the basic plot developments), he turns this love-hate relationship into something rarer than a sequel at Sundance — a Broadway comedy that's actually funny."

Washington Post - "Ari Gold: BlackBerry me. They've minted your match, dude -- a Hollywood agent-ex-machina by the name of Diane, who kicks up the comic dust in 'The Little Dog Laughed' the way stampeding bison grind up the prairie."

November 14, 2006 07:15 AM in Broadway

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