At least that's the way I remember the Amy Morton line that made me exclaim, "Oh my god," lo these many months ago at Steppenwolf.
Isherwood, NYTimes: "The cast does not have a weak link…"
Rooney, Variety: "There's not a weak link in the cast…"
Rooney: "…this massive meditation…confirms that, for once, the hype is justified."
Rob Kendt: "…the all-around must-see/don't-miss/believe-the-hype/run-don't-walk category. Yes, it's that good."
Jones, Tribune: "…rumor has it that Letts will be able to sell this script to Hollywood for a small fortune…"
Rooney: "…it can't be too long before someone snaps up this meaty material as a film property…"
It's not my intention to pick on David Rooney, as there are many more examples of this kind of synergy in the reviews. But as fun as this is, it's too late in the evening for me to keep going with the citations. Just be aware that of the reviews that have appeared tonight coinciding with the Broadway opening of August: Osage County, there are also multiple plaudits for Tracy Letts's one-liners, comparisons to sitcoms and/or soap operas, praise for Anna Shapiro's "sharp" and "precise" direction, how-do-you-choose campaigns between Deanna Dunagan and Morton, and in almost every one comparisons—or more accurately, references to inevitable comparisons, since no one actually wants to be the one gauche enough to make them—to Long Day's Journey Into Night and/or Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.
Sometimes, I guess, we just run out of words.
Thanks go to Rob for compiling the available reviews before I'd even gotten home from tonight's Redmoon opening. Many more to come in the next few days, I'm sure.
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