January 25, 2010
A hit for Schreiber, Johansson in 'View From the Bridge'
Scarlett Johansson made a stellar Broadway debut last night alongside Liev Schreiber in the revival of Arthur Miller’s “A View From the Bridge,” which is receiving near-unanimous praise from critics.
Set in the 1950s “On the Waterfront” Brooklyn neighborhood of Red Hook, the tragedy unfolds as longshoreman Eddie Carbone, his wife, and 17-year-old niece take in two Italian cousins who have entered the country illegally to find work. As Catherine falls in love with one of the cousins, Carbone uneasily wrestles with the fact his intentions toward his niece are not purely fatherly.
Critics are also liberal with their praise for director Gregory Mosher and the other primary actors: Jessica Hecht, Michael Cristofer, Morgan Spector and Corey Stoll. Words of disapproval — and they are few — generally fall only on poor old Arthur Miller, whose sometimes heavy hand does not please all comers.
“A View From the Bridge” plays through April 4 at the Cort Theatre, 138 W. 48th St., map. Regular tickets are priced from $42.50 to $136.50. Premium seats are $191.50 and $251.50. Front-row rush tickets are sold for $26.50 starting at 10 a.m. each day a performance is scheduled. If a performance is sold out, standing room tickets will be sold for $26.50.
Producers advise the show may be inappropriate for ages 16 and under due to strong language, adult subject matter and violence.
The “A View From the Bridge” Broadway reviews:
New York Times - “Mr. Schreiber is such a complete actor that he has often thrown productions into imbalance, highlighting the inadequacy of the performances around him. That is not a problem here. That the excellent stage veteran Ms. Hecht holds her own with Mr. Schreiber is no surprise. That Ms. Johansson does — with seeming effortlessness — is.”
Variety - “Sometimes it’s high praise to call a stage director’s work invisible. The compliment applies to Gregory Mosher’s searing revival of “A View From the Bridge,” though it by no means indicates any lack of craftsmanship or insight. Returning to Broadway after a considerable absence, Mosher has instilled in his outstanding cast an unconditional trust in Arthur Miller’s text, evoking a time, a place and a 1950s blue-collar community with penetrating integrity.”
Hollywood Reporter - “Schreiber, who in recent years has established himself as perhaps the theater’s leading dramatic actor, is simply riveting as Eddie. Early on, he invests the role with subtle shades of humor that help leaven the melodramatic proceedings. But as Eddie becomes more consumed by his demons, Schreiber gradually ratchets up the intensity with shattering results.”
Post - “Johansson, on the other hand, comes out of left field with a committed performance that’s resolutely unshowy. She certainly does better by Miller than Katie Holmes did in 2008’s ‘All My Sons.’ This Catherine is demure and shy, but she also goes after what she wants, and it’s just wonderful to watch Johansson challenge both herself and our expectations of her.”
NY1 - “‘A View From The Bridge’ has never been regarded in quite the same class as Miller’s “Death of A Salesman” but so good is this production it elevates the play’s status.”
Bloomberg - “This play is one of those doggedly recurrent attempts at tragedy for which, despite his overrated ‘Death of a Salesman,’ Miller had no real aptitude. So Schreiber and Johansson labor laudably in a lost cause. “
Associated Press - “‘Bridge’ is not only the story of one man. It is a tale of a community, in this case the Italian-American enclave in Red Hook, a neighborhood that has its own sets of rules and social mores. And Mosher makes sure we get a feel for its insularity, starting with designer John Lee Beatty’s grimy row of apartment buildings, including one that contains Eddie’s claustrophobic, drab apartment.”
Daily News - “If the play’s overstated narrative structure and bald symbolism (including a girl fetching and lighting her uncle’s cigar) keep it from being on Miller’s A-list (and they do), those weaknesses recede in Gregory Mosher’s exceptionally well-acted, well-staged revival.”
Washington Post - “The breakdown that this ‘Bridge’ illuminates is of a troubled man whose heart becomes untethered from reason. And the performances affirm the case for the story as a big event.”
USA Today - “Johansson disappears so completely into the role of Catherine, the plucky but naïve niece of a longshoreman, that you won’t stop to consider the qualities that make her distinctly suited to the part. Only afterward will you likely realize the actress’s youthful sensuality and capacity for good-natured goofiness constitute a perfect fit for this sheltered 17-year-old struggling to come to terms with her effect on men — her uncle, in particular.”
Back Stage - “Michael Cristofer makes a real person out of the dramatic-device role of Alfieri, a lawyer who also serves as the play’s narrator. Morgan Spector’s Rodolpho combines boyish overexuberance with steely determination to make it in America. Spector’s assured performance is all the more remarkable given that he stepped into the role relatively late in previews after Santino Fontana had to withdraw because of a concussion he suffered during an onstage fight. Corey Stoll exudes masculinity and Old World integrity as Rodolpho’s protective older brother Marco.”
New York magazine - “Can actors save a playwright from his worst impulses? This ‘A View From the Bridge’ may be everything a playwright, living or dead, could want: People who care enough not just to keep your language and your ideas alive, but to watch your back.”
New Yorker - “The revival of Arthur Miller’s 1955 play ‘A View from the Bridge’ (deftly directed by Gregory Mosher, at the Cort) is a singular revelation: a kind of theatrical lightning bolt that sizzles and startles at the same time.”
The Record - “The production, which stars Liev Schreiber and Scarlett Johansson, is solid, and, under Gregory Mosher’s tightly focused direction, quite involving. But it doesn’t leap beyond the confines of a naturalistic family drama.”
Newsday - “Bottom Line: Shattering Schreiber and Arthur Miller.”
Gothamist - “But the real surprise in the current revival of ‘A View From the Bridge’ isn’t that Johansson’s acting chops are legit, but that Liev Schreiber’s performance is so riveting that you forget to ogle her. “
Picture credits: Joan Marcus for “A View From the Bridge”
January 25, 2010 7:41 AM in Broadway, Midtown
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