Written by Edward Albee
Directed by Edward Albee
Synopsis:
Cherry Lane Theatre welcomes back Edward Albee with The American Dream and The Sandbox, which are billed together as an evening of one-acts. The New Yorker hailed The American Dream as "unique ... brilliant ... a comic nightmare, fantasy of the highest order." The story of one of America's most dysfunctional families, it is a ferocious, uproarious attack on the substitution of artificial values for real values -- a startling tale of murder and morality that rocks middle-class ethics to its complacent foundations.
NEW YORK TIMES:
"The original genius that is Albee is also in evidence here, though: the mesmerizing musicality of the dialogue, the vituperative wit, the giddy fascination with the limits and possibilities of language and the idea of death as an unavoidable (if unacknowledged) household presence. "
Read the whole review HERE.
NEW YORK POST:
"Ironically, Albee's staging feels a bit slack, and the performances don't quite carry the punch that they might have. But the sheer historical value of these rarely seen works overcomes any quibbles. Anyone interested in modern theater should head to the Cherry Lane "
Read the whole review HERE.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS:
"Nearly 50 years after their debuts, these satires on the storybook family deliver swift comic kicks and a piercing sting. They also contain the absurdism, acrobatic language and provocative thoughts on marriage and children that define Albee's long, illustrious career. "
Read the whole review HERE.
THEATERMANIA:
"Still, the major impression with which an Albee fan will leave is how solidly in place Albee's need was to work out his psychological knots as an adopted child -- and how strong that compulsion has remained for almost 50 years. It now seems almost an after-thought that he's made theatergoers everywhere the lucky beneficiaries of his obsessive search for psychic balm. "
Read the whole review HERE.
VARIETY:
"As directed by the 80-year-old playwright, in a style that skips past "The Simpsons" and goes straight to "Family Guy," these cruel cartoons lambasting all-American family values feel surprisingly fresh -- and alarmingly relevant. "
Read the whole review HERE.
NEW YORK SUN:
""The American Dream" may belong to the "Theater of the Absurd" movement, but it is absurdity at its most powerful. An hour long, it provides a richer theatrical experience, and has more to say, than most plays that run twice its length. "
Read the whole review HERE.
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