The reviews are in for the Resident Acting Company’s The Bald Soprano, which opened on Thursday, October 15, in the Frank Shiner Theater at the Sheen Center for Thought & Culture. Eugène Ionesco’s first play, the 1950 “anti-play” in which two suburban London couples talk at length and say nothing, is in the hands of a company that grew out of the Pearl Theatre, and three of its people were part of the Pearl’s 2011 staging: director Bradford Cover, who played Mr. Smith in it, and Rachel Botchan and Dan Daily, who return as Mrs. Smith and the Fire Chief. The notices so far are warm, and unusually consistent about why. Critic after critic credits Cover with treating the dialogue as a score to be timed rather than a string of jokes, and praises an ensemble that plays the nonsense absolutely straight. The only reservation, from Talkin’ Broadway, is that the surrealism can tip into the deliberate.
The verdict: six reviews in so far, and not a dissenting voice among them. Only The Front Row Center publishes a score, and it gives the production a perfect 5 out of 5; the other five outlets do not rate. What they agree on is the direction: Bradford Cover is credited again and again with timing Ionesco’s dialogue like music and letting the absurdity build rather than pushing it, and the ensemble is praised for playing every line with a straight face. Talkin’ Broadway’s mild note that the surrealism can feel deliberate is the closest thing to a reservation. The New York Times has not reviewed it.
What are critics saying about The Bald Soprano?
The Front Row Center
"It is all a sheer marvel of presentation!"
Reviewer: David Walters · 5 out of 5
Walters gives the production a perfect score in the site’s review box and calls it a revival good enough to keep in the company’s repertoire. He credits Cover’s staging with laying the action out so clearly that the nonsense lands harder, and recommends it both to newcomers to absurdism and to people who already know the play.
"go anyway as this rendering will likely supplant any version in your memory."
He also singles out Harry Feiner, who designed both the set and the lighting, for a room that sits between the realistic and the surreal.
Talkin’ Broadway
"This is a show of carefully choreographed insanity"
Reviewer: Moshe A. Bloxenheim
Bloxenheim, who filed on opening night, is impressed by how each actor keeps up a steady stream of non sequiturs without ever dropping character, and gives Cover much of the credit. He names Carine Montbertrand’s Mary as outstanding.
"the cast has one whale of a time playing with language and theatre conventions in ways that actually make me think of Monty Python."
His one caveat is that the surrealism can feel a little too deliberate at times, though he finds the cast and director keep the evening moving, and he enjoys PJ Ju’s increasingly deranged chimes and doorbells.
TheaterScene.net
"A brilliantly choreographed absurdist comedy in which six superb actors turn the collapse of language and logic into uproarious, timeless theatrical magic."
Reviewer: Tony Marinelli
Marinelli writes the longest and most admiring notice here. He hears Cover’s direction as close to a musical composition, built up from domestic calm to a shouting finale, and he goes through all six performances in turn, with particular pleasure in the Martins’ recognition scene played by Anique Clements and Andy Paterson.
"Directed by Bradford Cover with a precision that never smothers the madness, the production makes an exceptionally persuasive case for Ionesco’s enduring genius."
He also commends the decision to leave the play in its mid-century setting rather than update it, arguing that its targets are already all around us.
Stage and Cinema
"sharp, funny, and sparkling"
Reviewer: Paulanne Simmons
Simmons opens by arguing that a play about language emptied of meaning has special force in an age of disinformation, and finds the production timely as well as funny. She likes the deadpan of Dominic Cuskern and Botchan as the Smiths and compares the Martins’ befuddled exchanges to Burns and Allen.
"Their discussion about the many Bob Watsons echoes Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on First?” and is every bit as funny."
The highlight for her is Daily’s Fire Chief and the run of ridiculous stories he tells.
Off Off Online
"the Resident Acting Company brings out the enduring brilliance of this classic"
Reviewer: Deirdre Donovan
Donovan notes that Cover makes no attempt to tie the play to present-day worries about technology, and thinks he does something more useful instead. She warns that the play is easy to milk for cheap laughs and credits this staging with keeping its bite.
"he brings out the rhythms of Ionesco’s play, treating the script like a musical score."
She praises Botchan’s ease in a role she first played in 2011, Cuskern’s stiff Mr. Smith and the Martins’ recognition scene, and says Montbertrand and Daily are hardly overshadowed.
Nitelife Exchange
"A Wise and Funny Comedy Fest More Relevant Than Ever"
Reviewer: Marilyn Lester
Lester calls the production a gem and puts its success down to a rule of farce: play it completely straight, which she says this ensemble does under Cover’s direction.
"Absurd it is, and a hilarious huzzah as a half dozen perfectly-cast actors thoroughly bring the playwright’s intention to razor-sharp life."
She finds the three-quarter-round Frank Shiner Theater well suited to the play, and singles out Jeremy Pitzer’s costume for the Fire Chief.
For more of what the New York critics have been saying, read our roundups for Phyl at Theatre Row and Two Girls at the Cherry Lane Theatre, or our earlier report on the Resident Acting Company’s plans for the production.
The Bald Soprano runs at the Frank Shiner Theater at the Sheen Center for Thought & Culture, 18 Bleecker Street, through Sunday, November 1. Performances are at 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, with 2 p.m. matinees Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Production photos by Al Foote.
