I just saw this play...and I loved it. I had not read the book, so I can't compare, but I was drawn in...it kept my full attention the whole time...and at the end, when Laura Linney retreated off the stage, I felt emotion well up inside and I cried. Not that it was a tear jerker ending. It wasn't. The story/performance were just moving. And it seemed like basically the entire audience rose to give a standing ovation. I don't get to the theater so very often, but I'm very glad I went to this.
3
Lucy Barton is nice, kind, gentle, intelligent and very thoughtful person. But, I left Saturday thinking that she did need to say what was on her mind and she should have told it to a therapist, her second husband, her sister or a friend. There was no drama and no story. The plot was slight. It was all about her. Her father in WWII and the father's relationship with her brother was the most interesting section of the play. Why couldn't she write more about them and what they went through? There could have been a few plays framed from the tidbits she told. And why not bring other actors in to be the mother (and write parts for the husband, brother, french aristocrat and father). I never understand the joy of a one person play. Other actors would make her seem less self absorbed and maybe bring to life the others in way that wasn't strictly her perspective. Laura Linney was great. Kudos for her remembering 90 minutes of pure dialogue. I closed my eyes a few times and realized this would make a better audio book than play. What was the purpose of making the book a play? And why put it on my MTC subscription?
1
Laura Linney is a great actress - with tremendous depth and range. Far far superior to Meryl Streep, IMHO. The title of this article does one of the greatest actresses of our time an injustice: Laura Linney’s never yet met a rôle NOT «a perfect match» for her talents.
4
Saw this on Friday. Very disappointing play. I agree with the Washington Post critic, who called it an “Unfulfilling drama, as driven too transparently by novelistic formulas.”
By the end, I didn’t care a whit about Lucy or her family of origin and was just trying to stay awake.
3
Went To Thursday performance,she was excellent,flawless dialogue for ninety minutes.You think of the great ones who have performed on broadway and Ms Linney is in line with her effort.
9
Saw this in London and while LL was great, found it a bit boring and, in retrospect, highly forgettable. Maybe worth it if you have/can afford really good seats!
3
She's great. The play? Not so much.
Would only recommend if you are a huge Linney fan and even then you're likely to be a bit disappointed.
8
I would give anything to see this. I'm currently reading "Olive, Again" by Strout. When I picked it up in the bookstore, familiar with the first book and also having seen the spectacular Frances McDormand in the film adaptation,I utterly surrendered when I read the first page. Strout hits hard and crystalline but with so much empathy and humanity.One can almost taste and feel her words. Laura Linney is one of my favorite actresses. The "Big C" was and is an exceptionally brilliant piece of work that anyone who aspires to acting should watch in repeated viewing. It was extraordinarily cathartic for me – lost my spouse to cancer – and somehow this remarkably courageous and outlandish piece of television theatre helped me to accept my loss with greater understanding. I also adored Linney in the great "John Adams" series. Linney is American gold – a fine actress worth watching in whatever role she undertakes. I hope they film this production! I would happily rent and/or buy a dvd.
13
Laura Linney fans might look for "The Big C," an underappreciated TV series that tells many truths about life and death. The sublime Oliver Platt played Linney's husband and the brilliant John Benjamin Hickey, her brother. It had four seasons on Showtime, 2010-13. Available on DVD.
10
@GreaterMetropolitanArea
Thank you!
3
My husband and I saw this play last week in previews. We loved it. I disagree with those that complain that the story doesn't have an arc or that the story doesn't translate well to play form. This is a quiet play, and Brantley describes both the book and the play well when he says that "Linney indeed acts the way that Strout writes." I had the added thrill of recognizing Elizabeth Strout at the bar on the evening I attended. She and her husband were very gracious to my husband and me. We talked for quite a while, and I came home to Milwaukee with a picture of me with Ms. Strout to show my book club ladies! Our club has read Olive Kitteridge, probably her best known novel, but I think that we should now consider reading My Name is Lucy Barton.
17
We saw the London production, Linney delivered a compelling performance in a less than compelling play. I understand many love the book but the adaptation did not work for us as a play.
2
I went to New York just to see this play. How refreshing to see a play that uses a literary voice (Strout) twinned with an extraordinary acting voice (Linney). The people who say they were bored should have gone to Lion King.
37
@greenwell
Does it make you feel better to put others down?
I didn’t see Lion King but I did see Slave Play and To Kill A Mockingbird this past weekend, along with Lucy Barton. In my opinion, the first two were head and shoulders above Lucy Barton. Not even in the same league in terms of compelling drama.
You are entitled to your opinion as am I. No need to be snarky.
4
Apparently Ben Brantley didn't see the same production of "The Year of Magical Thinking" as the rest of us.
6
I saw the one Mr. Brantley saw.
@glorybe THANK YOU!
1
"Lucy may be the most translucent figure now on a New York stage."
Can anybody explain what Brantley means by "translucent"? Or is this just critic-speak?
5
Are you saying the critic is not being transparent enough? Or even opaque?
8
@Civres
She's "hardly a woman of mystery. On the contrary...Feelings seem to register on her face before her thoughts have a chance to catch up with them..." If these don't help, I don't know what to tell you.
10
@Larry D. - regarding "Are you saying the critic is not being transparent enough"
And of course, there's also the open call Morey Amsterdam (or maybe Shecky Greene?) talked about, where the casting agent told the director "The Invisible Man is here for his audition," and the director said, "Tell him I can't see him."
11
A little off topic, but I was absolutely mesmerized by Vanessa Redgrave performing “The Year of Magical Thinking.” If Laura Linney is half as good in “Lucy Barton,” I will be thrilled to see it.
7
There's one for the quote ads "Half as good as Vanessa Redgrave!" Recalls the legendary ads for "Damn Yankees" at Jones Beach: "Joe Namath sings better than Lauren Bacall."
2
Heck, any excuse to see Laura Linney!
The play does not sound all that great but Linney is always so amazing that I'd go see her read a phone book.
16
@Rax
She is the reason I went to see it in previews. I am not sure it would have been as good if it were another actress! I'd highly recommend going yourself.
5
I have not seen this production, but I do plan to go. I adore Linney... but I can't help but assume that her character will be portrayed like... basically all of Linney's other character roles! Verbose. A bit neurotic. Introspective. Melodramatic. She does what she does very well, albeit, with not a whole lot of range.
3
@Ed
Her performance in Mystic River was none of these things and vastly underrated.
Hope this comes to Los Angeles so I can see it. And if it runs in repertory with Linney reading a phone book, I'd see that show too.
7
@Ed
You adore her! You just don't think much of her...
9
Some of these comments are so well written and others are frankly lacking. I am an Elizabeth Strout fan and enjoyed MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON. Would dearly love to go to NYC to see this, because Laura Linney is as gifted an actress as Frances McDormand. I have just finished OLIVE, AGAIN and savored every story/chapter in it. Elizabeth Strout is a beautiful, insightful writer and I am grateful for her.
21
Laura Linney is a supremely talented performer who, in my opinion, is much underused.
31
@Linda
I agree that she has great talent, but she really has been a many good productions. One thing is most of her roles are in quite a bit better than average drama. There are many talented actors and so often they spend most of their time in weak productions that even talent can not make better.
2
My partner and I saw "Lucy Barton" last Thursday while visiting the city. Linney is exceptional, but the play is boring. Nothing (really) happens. I am grateful to have had an opportunity to see Linney perform live, but her talents deserve a much better play. She will always be Mary Ann Singleton to me!
6
i have always loved Laura Linney's musical, compelling voice...
4
Linney is wonderful in the play, but this isn't really much of a play. There is no dramatic arc to it. Playwright simply delivered an extended monologue (dialogue if you include the mother as a separate character). Wonder what it might have been if a few characters (e.g. the Dad, the husband, some of the women Mom talks about) had popped in and out.
2
I saw the play in previews several days ago. Linney’s is a remarkable performance that doesn’t feel like a performance. Deeply moving and sometimes funny, it successfully avoids the trap of voyeuristic appeals to sympathy. Very memorable experience.
22
@cece We agree entirely Cece....it was remarkable. I was in quiet tears for a lot of it.
5
I have to save this article to send to someone I met at a party at a relative's house 6 or 7 years ago.
I said to her: "Have yyou ever seen Laura Linney the movie star in any of her movies, Mystic River, or the one with Clint Eastwood." She did not know of Laura Linney.
She resembled Laura so much, that the current picture in the article confirms my estimate to have been correct.
I will have to get her name again from my relative so I can forward
the article. I saw her (my relative's friend) recently and because I now simply call her Laura I cannot remember what her name is.
After all this, I simply wanted to say. I think Laura Linney is one of the great actresses of the last 30 years.
9
I just finished reading the book, which I loved. This sounds like it is faithfully brought to the stage. Wish I were in New York.
12
Interesting discussion about the play. I would go see this play because it explores the complex relationship between a daughter, her mother, an abusive father who is bitter about life and a strong woman who emerges despite the odds of her becoming mentally ill. Why do some people become strong and some collapse. Genetics, environment, who knows but it makes me wonder.
22
@Raja Iglewicz , an old teacher spoke to me long ago about the children who were trapped—as too many are—in abuse of kinds we can’t save them from, emotional abuse, unprovable often in court. She said, “Give them someone good to be.” Find in them the seeds of art, skill, talent, potential—an identity they can find in themselves and believe in. And to hold to and build upon until the prisons of their childhoods are past. That has helped me in my years of trying to help them.
13
Beautiful. Thank you.
1