"'The Audience' allows the smashing Ms. Mirren to demonstrate her quick-change virtuosity in becoming the queen at different ages before our very eyes. Those transformations, accomplished with sleights of hand worthy of a master magician, are probably the most entertaining and satisfying aspects of 'The Audience'...You can also expect a lively and expansive tutorial on a number of subjects."
Read more

"Whether you know your 20th-century Parliamentary history or simply get an Anglophile high from tea service and footmen in livery, Mirren rules in this engaging and humanizing retrospective. The Brits may sing about God saving their queen, but I think she takes care of herself just fine."
Read more

"Those of you who like a bit of Royal Fantasy should hurry up and get your tickets to this delicious bit of sweets...Many of the scenes often feel contrived...Where this production does excel is in the person of Helen Mirren who manages to convey the essence of this Queen. We understand, we can literally feel that for her this is a Holy calling."
Read more

"'The Audience' relies on too many clichés of biodrama to hold itself together...So it’s really the Helen Mirren show, with her chorus line of prime ministers in black and gray setting off her brilliance. It’s dazzling fun. But for Mirren no less than the rest of the cast the play appears to be little more than a series of meaty and not especially difficult exercises; they invest a great deal of expertise and passion into the best possible rendering of the simplest possible tunes. "
Read more

"Working closely with Morgan’s long and essentially plotless script [Daldry] not only shows us how the scene is assembled but makes its construction part of his theatre magic, which is warmer than Brecht’s, but 'alienated,' too... There is nothing like watching a great director with a great star; the relationship can and often does transcend weak material. Morgan’s material is not lacklustre. There’s enough air in it for Mirren to interpret, and for Daldry to guide her interpretation and add an element that only the stage can contain: camp."
Read more

"Mirren has this queen thing down quite nicely...The title refers to Liz’s weekly off-the-record meetings with her Prime Ministers...They’re a disparate, sometimes unruly lot, each of whom she handles with wit and aplomb in Stephen Daldry’s perfectly pitched production, gorgeously designed by his frequent collaborator Bob Crowley."
Read more

"Effortlessly and consistently commanding and composed, Mirren can’t be upstaged... Still, her portrait never quite ascends to that elusive level of transcendence — or indelibility. Don’t blame Dame Helen... The concept is clever and entertaining, probably a lot more so if you’re English, but there’s not much of a takeaway."
Read more

"Long live Queen Helen! Maybe she’ll add a Tony to her collection for her triumphant return to Buckingham Palace in 'The Audience'...The fundamental appeal for an audience is watching the various prime ministers display their goods for the Queen and observing Mirren’s subtle skills at adjusting her age, voice, physical presence and state of mind to reflect (or try to hide) her feelings about each of these politicians."
Read more