“What is too much for the world is way too much for the play. And the play, for all its urgency, is already way too much. Running just over three hours, ‘Prayer for the French Republic,’...is still not long enough to do justice to the multiple histories it wants to tell.”
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“There is perceptiveness and humor in ‘Prayer for the French Republic,’ and Cromer’s direction does its best to keep things honest. But as Harmon weighs out the issues, you can sense his thumb on the scale; by the denouement, it feels more like his whole hand, pressing for amens.”
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“It’s a plus-size play about big social issues that impresses in large structural ways as well as small moments...so this ‘Prayer’ will likely always be relevant. That’s a dramatic triumph – and a scorching reality.”
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“Though it’s surrounded by heavy clouds, Harmon’s play is plenty sharp and by no means gloomy...How much you respond to ‘Prayer’ may ultimately rest on your taste for such harangues. I admit to finding them hard to follow — not intellectually but emotionally. They leave me cold and a little suspicious.”
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“Like any play transferring to Broadway from an Off Broadway success, this ‘Prayer’ is a counterproposal to its earlier, smaller, and more intimate iteration.”
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“ 'Prayer for the French Republic' addresses, with nuance, detail and understated passion, the tensions and the connections between history and current events."
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“...Edwards and his castmates bring two distinct, if not always so dissimilar, eras to life, and they tell a sweeping story while conveying genuine intimacy. ‘Prayer for the French Republic’ asks big questions – of history, of family, of identity – and, all but miraculously, answers their call.”
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“The play, narrated uneasily by the self-doubting Patrick, is saying that little has been solved, the Jew remains a wanderer by necessity, that the painful lessons of history have never been more important, and love and happiness must be grabbed where it can.”
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