'night, Mother

Opened: 14 Nov 2004
Written by: Marsha Norman
Directed by: Michael Mayer
Starring: Brenda Blethyn (Thelma Cates), Edie Falco (Jessie Cates).
Synopsis: A play about a complicated relationship between a mother and daughter. Jesse is faced with the perception that her life no longer has significant meaning and informs her mother, whom she lives with, that she has come to a critical moment of decision.

What the critics had to say.....

BEN BRANTLEY of the NEW YORK TIMES says �Actresses Edie Falco and Brenda Blethyn never seem quite at home in their roles in this strangely uninvolving production.� ELYSA GARDNER of USA TODAY says "Under Michael Mayer's vigorous, disciplined direction, both stars deliver the goods, and then some." CLIVE BARNES of the NEW YORK POST says "There are times when superior acting doesn't save a play, but simply exposes it." HOWARD KISSEL of NEW YORK DAILY NEWS says �Each of the women has powerful moments, but the overall feeling is flat and mechanical, an exercise in facile nihilism.� MICHAEL SOMMERS of STAR-LEDGER says "Has the potential to be a shocker, but director Michael Mayer's otherwise smooth and capably acted revival does not involve viewers sufficiently to achieve maximum impact." LINDA WINER of NEWSDAY says "Michael Mayer has directed his uncompromising actresses with all the tough emotional elegance the script demands. But there is a mawkishness to the unsentimentality." DAVID ROONEY of VARIETY says "Emotionally uncentered revival." JACQUES LE SOURD of JOURNAL NEWS says "The combination of Falco's stupendous talent and Norman's gift for lucid dialogue that never flinches, makes Falco's Jessie good company indeed." MICHAEL KUCHWARA of Associated Press says "There's a tidiness to Falco's portrait that shortchanges the emotional impact of the play." FRANK SCHECKk of HOLLYWOOD REPORTER says "There is no denying its ultimate emotional power, which is well realized in director Michael Mayer's staging."

External links to full reviews from newspapers

New York Times
USA Today
New York Post
New York Daily News
Newsday
Variety
Journal News
Associated Press
Hollywood Reporter