Manhattan Theatre Club’s
Acclaimed Broadway Premiere Of
Announces Extension Due to Overwhelming Demand
“BREATHTAKING!
Love as a battlefield has seldom been as thrilling as it is
in Daniel Aukin’s definitive revival of Sam Shepard’s bruising drama.
Nina Arianda and Sam Rockwell exude the sort of chemistry
from which nuclear meltdowns are made.”
– Ben Brantley, New York Times
*Critics’ Pick*
Lynne Meadow (Artistic Director) and Barry Grove (Executive Producer) are pleased to announce, that due to overwhelming demand, Manhattan Theatre Club’s acclaimed Broadway premiere of Fool For Love, which opened on Thursday to critical raves, will extend by one week at MTC’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street). The limited engagement must close on Sunday, December 13.
Below is a sample of what New York critics had to say about this new production of Sam Shepard’s modern American classic, directed by Daniel Aukin, starring Tony Award winner Nina Arianda (Venus in Fur at MTC, Born Yesterday), Sam Rockwell (A Behanding in Spokane, The WayWay Back), Emmy Award winner Tom Pelphrey (By The Water at MTC, End of the Rainbow) and Tony Award nominee Gordon Joseph Weiss(Fool For Love at Williamstown, Ghetto).
“As Nina Arianda and Sam Rockwell perform the savage, cyclical dance in Daniel Aukin’s breathtaking production of Sam Shepard’s Fool ForLove, you feel the gut-clutching suspense generated by a full-throttle cliffhanger. Love as a battlefield on which nobody wins has seldom been mapped as thrillingly as it is in this definitive revival of this bruising drama. That’s in large part because as the inexorably coupled May and Eddie, Nina Arianda and Sam Rockwell exude the sort of chemistry from which nuclear meltdowns are made.
Shepard’s apache dance of a drama comes across not only as exciting theater but also as world-class literature, the kind that balances in-the-moment detail with an echoing sense of eternity.
Arianda’s performance here is all pulsing flesh and exposed nerve endings, dynamic resistance and passive fatalism. She is, in a word, magnificent. Rockwell provides a dazzlingly precise portrait of a deluded illusionist, a personality shaped by a myth of machismo and a childhood that left him feeling like a perpetual outsider.
Arianda and Rockwell have an audience in a pitch-perfect Gordon Joseph Weiss who comments on their activities like a folksy, responsibility-disavowing Greek chorus and a wonderful Tom Pelphrey who’s there to remind us of just how hermetically sealed Eddie and May’s private world is.
When Rockwell’s noose finally slips around Arianda’s waist, we know how she feels. We’ve been lassoed, but good, since the show began. This beautiful, taut production never once slackens its hold.”
– Ben Brantley, New York Times (Critics’ Pick)
“3 ½ STARS (OUT OF FOUR) Manhattan Theatre Club’s searing new production of Fool For Love is finally making it’s Broadway premiere following an acclaimed run at Williamstown Theatre Festival. Daniel Aukin and his cast, led by a riveting Nina Arianda and a fiercely unsettling Sam Rockwell, never allow themselves or the audience an uncharged moment. Arianda and Rockwell are joined by a flawless Tom Pelphrey and a masterful Gordon Joseph Weiss.”
– Elysa Gardner, USA Today
“Daniel Aukin’s terrific staging for the Manhattan Theatre Club, Fool for Love acquires the force of Greek tragedy. The play requires a kind of delicacy in performance and staging that Shepard’s work, with its violence and quasi-mysticism, does not often get. Here it does.
Arianda’s alternately spitfire and limpetlike fierceness has rarely been channeled as effectively, and Rockwell tremendous vulnerability to a role often played as a brick. As the Old Man, Gordon Joseph Weiss makes what is literally a peripheral part feel central (he’s got an amazing voice), and Tom Pelphrey manages the trick — both an acting trick and a life trick — of being stalwart and unassuming at the same time. You feel almost sick for him, drawn into this snake pit of impossible love, and then, for the same reason, you feel almost sick for yourself.
The production, already excellent when presented at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2014, has only improved at Manhattan Theatre Club. Physically, it is just about perfect, with sets by Dane Laffrey, costumes by Anita Yavich, lighting by, sound design by Ryan Rumery, and David S. Leong’s movement and fights.”
– Jesse Green, New York Magazine
Holed up in a seedy motel on the edge of the Mojave Desert, two former lovers unpack the deep secrets and dark desires of their tangled relationship, passionately tearing each other apart. Beaten down by ill-fated love and a ruthless struggle for identity, can they ultimately live with, or without, each other? Led by director Daniel Aukin (Back Back Back at MTC; 4,000 Miles), Tony Award winner Nina Arianda (Venus in Fur at MTC, Born Yesterday) and Sam Rockwell (A Behanding in Spokane, The Way Way Back) bring an explosive intensity to Sam Shepard’s (Buried Child, True West) landmark myth of the new Wild West.
Fool for Love is presented in association with Williamstown Theatre Festival.
The creative team for Fool for Love includes Dane Laffrey (scenic design), Anita Yavich (costume design), Justin Townsend (lighting design),Ryan Rumery (sound design), and David S. Leong (movement and fights).
TICKETING INFORMATION
Tickets for Fool For Love are available by calling Telecharge at 212-239-6200, online by visiting www.Telecharge.com, or by visiting the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre Box Office (261 West 47th Street). Ticket prices are $70 – $150.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
· THROUGH SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18: Tuesday at 7 PM; Wednesday through Saturday at 8 PM. Matinees on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2 PM.
· MONDAY, OCTOBER 19 – SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22: Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 PM; Thursday through Saturday at 8 PM. Matinees on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2 PM.
· MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23 – SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 29 (THANKSGIVING WEEK): Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 PM; Friday andSaturday at 8 PM. Matinees on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2 PM. The production will be dark on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 26. There will be only seven performances this week.
· MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30 – SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6: Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 PM; Thursday through Saturday at 8 PM. Matinees on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2 PM.
· MONDAY, DECEMBER 7 – SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13 (EXTENSION WEEK): Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 PM; Thursday throughSaturday at 8 PM. Matinees on Saturday, and Sunday at 2 PM. There will be seven performances this week
www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com
Loved this show. If you’re a fan of Shepard, it is not to be missed. Corine Cohen.
