AS blizzards paralysed New York yesterday, the city's hard bitten critics shone favourably on Brian Friel's Molly Sweeney, following its opening night on Broadway.
Clive Barnes of the New York Post described the play as "beautiful and dazzling" in the first paragraph of his review, and concluded What a marvellous play this is See it wander in it and wonder at it." He deems the Broadway production even more impressive than its Dublin and London versions, noting that "Friel... has staged his play with just the right amount of tact. Joe Vanek's designs are perfect and the acting could hardly be bettered."
The Daily News critic, Howard Kissel, called it "an absorbing and entrancing play" whose "overall feeling . .. is luminous".
Like other critics he was particularly positive about the cast Catherine Byrne, Jason Robards and Alfred Molina with Catherine Byrne's performance inspiring particular enthusiasm.
The New York Times review by Vincent Canby was mixed. The first sentence refers to Friel as "Ireland's greatest living playwright", but Canby judges Molly Sweeney to be "not theatrically dramatic", and questions "whether or not [Mr Friel] is still writing plays".
While finding no fault with the performances, and praising the writing as "vivid, sometimes glorious", he nevertheless judges the stage tableau and the lack of movement to be "beautiful, possibly too beautiful, and utterly static".
Conversely, the New York Law Journals Martin Gottfried sees this as an ingenious device on the part of the author. "Deprived as we are of the theatre's visual aspects, we become `blind' just as Molly Sweeney is," he wrote.
In Variety, Greg Evans described how the play "captivates with its deceptively simple plot and the unfailing grace of its performers".
Undaunted by the lack of movement, he comments that "Joe Vanek's spare set ... keeps the focus on the words and the actors speaking them".
Overall, if New Yorkers take note of what the critics have to say, it looks like this run should be a successful one for the producers of Molly Sweeney.
The only thing they have to hope for now is an easing off of the weather, so that audiences can get to the theatre.