Steel Magnolias

Written by: Robert Harling
Directed by: Jason Moore
Cast: Delta Burke (Truvy), Christine Ebersole (MLynn), Lily Rabe (Annelle), Rebecca Gayheart (Shelby), Marsha Mason (Ouiser), Frances Sternhagen, (Clairee)
Synopsis: Steel Magnolias is set in a small town beauty parlor in Louisiana and follows the lives of several women who often meet there.
 

What the critics had to say.....

BEN BRENTLEY of the NEW YORK TIMES says �Sitting through "Steel Magnolias," which is set in a beauty parlor in a small town in Louisiana, is like watching nail polish dry.�
CLIVE BARNES of NEW YORK POST says "Why pay good money to see something you can see on TV? That's the central problem besetting Robert Harling's "Steel Magnolias" � that and the fact that it's not a very good play. Steel magnolias? Plastic daffodils are more like it."
HOWARD KISSEL of NEW YORK DAILY NEWS says �What a finely constructed piece of theater it is, as resilient, as funny, as moving and as bracing as its marvelous title characters.�
ELYSA GARDNER of USA TODAY says "Luckily, the women bear up like troupers, and in some cases they transcend the script's limitations - which include lines such as "I'm not crazy; I've just been in a very bad mood for 40 years."
LINDA WINER of Newsday says "Broadway may get rich by recycling old material, but this is extreme."
MICHAEL SOMMERS of STAR-LEDGER says "The somewhat hasty air of an under-rehearsed summer stock production hangs over "Steel Magnolias,"
FRANK SCHECK of the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER says "Sternhagen proves the definitive scene-stealer of the cast, garnering the most consistent laughs with her impish line deliveries. Marsha Mason is the runner-up, though her broadly funny turn is ultimately unable to erase memories of Shirley MacLaine's definitive screen performance".

External links to full reviews from newspapers:
New York Times
New York Post
New York Daily News
USA Today
Newsday
The Hollywood Reporter