AmericanTheaterWeb Original News & Reviews

Additions for February 24, 2009:

AmericanTheaterWeb

Review: The Winter's Tale
Finding Unity in Shakespeare's Fractured Play

Bloomberg.com

Ethan Hawke, Slinging Guitar, Heats Up Shakespeare's `Winter': John Simon
The Anglo-American, symbolically named Bridge Project has now introduced its second item, Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale,” to run in repertory with Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard.” Presented at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, it is a rare chance to see one of Shakespeare’s less- performed plays, cast with such stellar actors as Simon Russell Beale, Sinead Cusack, Richard Easton, Rebecca Hall and Ethan Hawke (here slinging a guitar).

New York Daily News

'The Winter's Tale,' 'Othello' are suspicious but delicious
An uneasy mix of dark tragedy, boisterous comedy and magical fantasy, "The Winter's Tale" is deemed one of Shakespeare's "problem" plays. But Sam Mendes' elegant production skillfully reconciles jarring moods.

Hartford Courant

New York Stage: BAM Production of "The Winter's Tale" a Marvel

nytheatre.com

The Winter's Tale
Sam Mendes's new production of The Winter's Tale has just opened with a star-filled cast head by Simon Russell Beale as Leontes. Our reviewer Mitchell Conway says the show is excellent...

CurtainUp

Review: The Winter's Tale
With its superb transatlantic cast and masterful direction, this is certainly a Winter's Tale that can light up a cold winter's night. . . or afternoon.

---

New York Times

Alas, Poor Leontes (That Good King Has Not Been Himself of Late)
The first 90 minutes of this “Winter’s Tale” have a pure emotional strength that leave you open mouthed and teary eyed.

Newsday

Bridge Project warms up to 'The Winter's Tale'

amNY New York City Theater

Theater Review of The Winter's Tale (BAM)
It’s now official. Year one of the three-year transatlantic Bridge Project – uniting an equally mixed group of English and American actors to perform classical plays in repertory under the direction of Sam Mendes – is a shining success.

New York Post

Winter's hot
You can't accuse director Sam Mendes of being timid. For his first season of the new transatlantic theater cooperative in resi dence at BAM he could have chosen one of Shakespeare's most durable plays, like "Twelfth Night" or "Othello." Instead, he's tackled "The Winter's Tale," perhaps the loopiest...

Associated Press

Bridge Project Finds the Heart in 'Winter's Tale'
''The Winter's Tale'' is a strangely schizophrenic play, but director Sam Mendes has found the heart in this odd Shakespearean romance and made its disparate pieces work.

Variety

Review: The Winter's Tale
...this elegant staging is so poignant in its sorrowful moods that the evening is both suspenseful and satisfying.

Back Stage

The Winter's Tale reviewed by Adam R. Perlman
A sad tale may be best for winter, but is it best for The Winter's Tale?

TheaterMania

Review: The Winter's Tale
Sam Mendes serves up an unusually lucid, tough-minded yet charming production of Shakespeare's late-era play.