The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Tickets and Information
SHOW INFORMATION
Opened Dec 3, 2009
Closed Dec 20, 2009
WHAT IS IT ABOUT?
Carson McCullers' classic novel is adapted for the stage by acclaimed playwright Rebecca Gilman (Spinning Into Butter) and directed by Doug Hughes (The Beard of Avon at NYTW, Doubt). The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is a beautiful and timeless tale about the universal need for human connection. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter follows the story of deaf John Singer as he navigates the world without his dearest friend who has been committed to an insane asylum. When Singer moves to a small Southern town, the locals flock to him as a newfound confidant, seeking compassion and understanding from the one person who needs it the most. Singer's isolation in the world is mirrored in a few of the townspeople he meets along the way - a café owner, a rebellious teenager, a black physician, and an idealistic labor organizer whose dreams have been shattered. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter intertwines the lives of these characters in a surprising way that results in a deeply moving story of outcasts in the South during the Great Depression.
WHAT ARE CRITICS SAYING?
What are other members saying?
RE:HEART HAS NO HEART
This is a cold, cerebral fragmenting of the book without warmth, humor or imagination. There is no shape, focus or drama to the narrative. The bits and pieces of the action are strung together by Singer, a deaf character played by a hearing actor without poetic or emotional affect. The "Carson" role starts and ends angry and defeated as do all the characters. We see lots of lonely but no hunting. The production cries out for the beaurty, passion and energy of McCullers book.
Reviewed by Betsy Shevey
on Tuesday, Dec 1st, 2009
recommend, approve and/or guarantee such events, or any facts, views, advice and/or information contained therein.
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Directions & Map
Anyone seeing Rebecca Gilman's new play The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, now at New York Theatre Workshop, without having read Carson McCullers' brilliant novel first will see an earnest, somewhat static portrait of a small, semi-segregated Southern town in which a group of people befriend a deaf mute. Meanwhile, those who know the book will see a loose version of McCullers' wounding tale -- directed in stately measure by Doug Hughes -- that misses one of McCullers' major points so widely it practically amounts to a travesty.
In the original novel, deaf and mute John Singer (Henry Stram) becomes the confidant of four talkative locals: 13-year-old tomboy Mick Kelly (Cristin Milioti), lo[...]