Tony Award winner Mary-Louise Parker stars in a new Broadway production of Hedda Gabler, by Henrik Ibsen in a new adaptation by Christopher Shinn. Ian Rickson directs.
Ibsen's great social drama of a caged woman in the late nineteenth century explores her tormented desire for escape and her yearning for individual and spiritual freedom.
In Hedda Gabler, the newly-wed Hedda Tesman finds herself bored with married life to her scholar husband, George Tesman. As the daughter of General Gabler, she had grown accustomed to the freedom and exciting social world of her father's home. When her rival, Mrs. Elvsted, reenters her life with Hedda's former lover, Eilert Lovberg in tow, Hedda sets out on a shocking path of destruction that affects the lives of everyone around her.
The cast also includes Tony Award winner Michael Cerveris as Jorgen Tesman, Paul Sparks as Ejlert Lovborg, Peter Stormare as Judge Brack, Lois Markle as Berte, Ana Reeder as Thea Elvsted, and Helen Carey as Juliane Tesman.
User Reviews
Read what our TM Insiders had to say about Hedda Gabler!
Saw the Saturday 1/31 8PM show and was taken aback by the absence of Ibsens dark humor thats in this play but didnt make it onto the stage. Tesman should have been comically pretentious, but Cerveris played him as neurotic and self-effacing. Hedda is such a deliciously layered character with mask upon mask, but Ms. Parker - try though she might - played her so low key and without much variety, that I had to read the program article to get a hint as to what shed intended to put on the stage. The wonderful film actor Peter Stormares boots got in the way he kept shifting on his feet all evening and he lacked the bloated self-importance called for by Judge Brack. Mr. Sparks Lovborg - a theatrical rogue if there ever was one - was flaccid, angry, and played with very few interesting notes.
All in all, it appears that Ian Rickson threw out what he must have felt was well-trod convention in favor of...what, Im not sure, for an interesting vision was not present on the boards.
posted on 02/02/2009 at 12:18:00 PM
Review: response to It's Hedda Dry by boom3rbydebisule
Considering that you saw an early preview, your comments seem irresponsible. Ill wait to judge after theyve had a chance to settle into the roles - or open - whichever comes first!
I saw this performance last night and im afraid to report that MLP was less then stellar from beginning to end. There was no command of the stage. In fact, I could barely feel ANY emotion from her throughout the entire play. Her portrayal of a woman losing her mind was monotone, listless, and overall boring. She made no connection to her character or the other actors. It was like watching a rookie, instead of a seasoned professional. She had moments of great lines of which I laughed out loud, but they were few and far between. Sorry about the negative review, I usually enjoy Mary-Louises performances, but this role is just not for her.
Pass.
The new Broadway season begins with Burn the Floor, featuring Dancing With the Stars' Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Karina Smirnoff. Off-Broadway sees the new musical Vanities, Buck Henry and Holland Taylor in Mother, Lucy Thurber's Monstrosity, and Ariane Mnouchkine and Declan Donnellan-helmed works at the Lincoln Center Festival. Full Story New York Theater Listings, Tickets, News, Reviews, and more
By providing information about entertainment and cultural events on this site, TheaterMania.com shall not be deemed to endorse,
recommend, approve and/or guarantee such events, or any facts, views, advice and/or information contained therein.
Directions and Map
User Reviews: (
A Theater Goers Guide to Eating 
Summer Burn